114 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK T. 



the three common dairy cows, with the same quantity of cake, produced 

 30 pints in the morning and 19 in the evening, making together 49 pints. 

 It follows from this that, whilst the quality of the milk was not materi- 

 ally hettered, the quantity became slightly less, especially in the case 

 of the three ordinary cows. From the three pedigree cows we had 49 

 pints of rnilk per day with grass alone, with 1 Ib. of cake per cow the 

 quantity was 48| pints, and with 2 Ib. of cake it was reduced to 47 ; 

 from three common dairy cows, fed on grass alone, we had in the first 

 instance 52 pints per day, with 1 Ib. of cake the quantity was reduced 

 46J, and with 2 Ib. of cake it was 49 pints ; it would appear from this 

 that the additional food evidently had a tendency to go into meat or to 

 produce fat." 



Generally, with regard to the breed of dairy cows, it should be 

 remembered that the breed of any locality may be improved by select- 

 ing the heifers of the best milkers, and breeding with these by bulls 

 also obtained from the best milkers. And to enable the "best milkers" 

 of a herd to be known, we should strongly recommend a systematic 

 dairy account to be kept, in which the name, age, and all peculiarities 

 of each cow are put down in a book, with a series of columns given 

 to this cow's register, in which the results of the mornings' and 

 evenings' milkings are carefully entered. Another advantage arising 

 from this plan would be that the effect of any system of special feeding 

 could be at once noted. The method of recording a milk register is 

 described on page 245. 



The suggestions contained in the foregoing paragraph are admirably 

 emphasised in a paper on " The Breeding and Selection of Dairy 

 Cattle," which was read by Mr. Henry Simmons, of Bearwood Farm, 

 Wokingham, at the Eastern Counties Conference of the British 

 Dairy Farmers' Association, in 1888. From it we take the following 

 extracts : 



"It is admitted by all, however prejudiced we ,may be to our own 

 particular breed or fancy, that good cows are to be found in all breeds 

 of cattle, although they are less common in some breeds than in others. 

 This arises from various causes, and may be due in some measure to 

 the country, climate, soil, and the nature of the food ; at the same 

 time, I think that more is left with ourselves in the formation of good 

 cattle by judicious thought and management than may at first sight 

 appear to the casual observer. The first question is What constitutes 

 a good cow ? The answer, I think, must be The one that is the 

 most profitable, rent-paying animal, looked at from all points. I do 

 not purpose in this paper to go into the merits of the respective breeds 

 of cattle, but rather to state from my own observation and experience 

 what I think the best and most likely system to produce good cattle 

 from any given breed. I do not like to hear any man or newcomer 

 into a district set up his opinion too decidedly against the usages of 

 that district, or to so run away with his own ideas or fancy as to drive 

 on headlong in the belief that some particular breed is the best for all 

 soils and climates. Such a man, and we often meet with him, gene- 

 rally, unless he sees his error in time, comes to grief. 



