THE AYRSHIRE 



421 



The Ayrshire in butter-fat production is subordinate to the 

 Holstein-Friesian, Guernsey, and Jersey. Fair samples of the 

 milk average 3.5 to 4 per cent fat and about 12.5 per cent total 

 solids. The average fat content of the seventy leading cows and 

 heifers in the Advanced Registry records to January, 1918, was 

 3.89 per cent. Tested cows, as a rule, show to the best advantage 

 in this respect. In official yearly tests as far back as 1900 a record 

 of 500 pounds of fat was regarded as very good indeed. In 1908 

 the secretary of the Ayrshire Breeders' Association reported that 

 fifty-one mature cows in the Advanced Registry produced an aver- 

 age of 436 " pounds of butter." Great progress has been made 

 since then, so that up to January, 1919, some surprisingly large 

 official records in butter fat have been produced, as shown below. 



TEN LEADING OFFICIAL BUTTER-FAT RECORDS OF AYRSHIRE Cows 



TO 1919 



The ten leading records in the mature class of Advanced 

 Registry cows average 851.69 pounds fat, while the junior two- 

 year-olds average 532.84 pounds. The average of the seventy 

 leading cows and heifers to March, 1919, is 617.37 pounds. 

 The best record of a two-year-old is that of 738.32 pounds, 

 made by Henderson's Dairy Gem 35176. The average record 

 of 3243 cows and heifers in the Advanced Registry up to 

 March 6, 1919, is given as 380.47 pounds butter fat, the milk 

 testing 3.96 per cent. 



