174 How THE FARM PAYS. 



Q. You say the heifers are ready to breed at about fifteen months. 

 Is it not an unusual thing to bring them in at that age ? 



A. In my experience in breeding Jerseys and Ayrshires, by bring- 

 ing them into milk while young, I find that they make better cows, as it 

 keeps them from running into fat or beef, and holds their milking 

 qualities much better. I have known Jersey and Ayrshire heifers 

 not to breed until twenty-eight and thirty months old, but they never 

 proved to be good dairy cows, while Short Horns or Devons ought 

 not to be bred until about two years old, because their uses nowa- 

 days are more for beef than for dairy purposes. My plan is to breed 

 the Jerseys and Ayrshires while young, and on their second breeding 

 to keep them back say three or four months, so as to make them hold 

 out their milking qualities for a longer season. 



Q. What is the highest price, to your knowledge, that has ever been 

 paid for a Jersey ? 



A. I believe $10,000 each has been offered and refused for " Eurotas," 

 "Bomba," and " Jersey Belle of Scituate." The two-year-old heifer, 

 Khedive Princess, sold at the Cooper sale, May, 1883, for $5,150. 

 Some twenty cows at the same sale averaged over $2,000 each, 

 while the young bull, King of Ashantee, sold for $5,600. Since then 

 a bull calf sold for $10,500.* 



Q. What is the probability of a continuance of these high prices, 

 Mr. Crozier? Are they occasioned by a craze of fashion, or is there 

 an increase of popular demand for the Jerseys? 



A. There is no doubt an increasing demand for Jersey cattle a 

 legitimate demand founded entirely on their great merits, which 

 yearly are becoming more and more attested, and that, together with 

 the great beauty of the animal, which brings into competition private 

 gentlemen as purchasers, both at the auction sales and privately, will 

 have the effect of keeping up present prices, until this demand is 

 satisfied. At the present time I do not believe there is a Jersey cow 

 for each county in the United States, and the number being thus 

 limited, certainly the demand wiU continue. Fifteen years ago $250 

 or $300 would have been called an extravagant price for a Jersey cow 

 and few buyers at that. 



Q. The inference is, then, that as the character of this breed becomes 

 known the price advances? 



A. Wherever the Jersey cow plants her foot, there will soon be 

 found a market for her, whether here in the East or in the South or 

 the West. A few years ago she was slighted at our fairs by every- 

 body, and called the " little scrag " and only considered fitted for 



* Since the above was written a two-year-old bull has been sold by T. S. Cooper 

 for $15,000. 



