THE AYRSHIRE 



419 



if he has four daughters in the records, each from different 

 dams. Official testing is also conducted in Canada and by the 

 Ayr Society for Milk Record, in Scotland. 



The Ayrshire as a milk producer has been regarded with favor 

 for over a century, and it is this quality that has been sought 

 from the first. In 1811 Aiton wrote that probably 1200 Scotch 

 pints (2148 quarts) of milk from each cow in the course of a 



FIG. 183. Jean Armour 25487, foundress of the Jean Armour family of Ayrshires. 



Not only was she a great show cow but she has an official record of 20,174 pounds 



milk and 774.73 pounds fat in a year. Owned by Mrs. F. D. Erhardt, West Berlin, 



Vermont. From photograph, by courtesy of the American Agriculturist 



year would be a fair average. In 1829 Harley, a famous dairy- 

 man, placed the average of his herd at 1 2 quarts a day. One of 

 his cows for a considerable time gave 40 quarts per day. In the 

 earlier records kept in the United States the annual yields ranged 

 from about 5000 to 7000 pounds. A number of New England 

 herd records were kept continuously for years, beginning in 1873 

 or 1874, notably by Sturtevant Brothers and J. W. D. French of 

 Massachusetts and L. S. Drew and C. M. Winslow of Vermont, 

 the latter for many years secretary of the Ayrshire Breeders' 

 Association. Up to 1900 but few cows of the breed produced 



