170 THE CREAMERY PATRON'S HANDBOOK. 



moderate amount of milk or butter, a still different breed may be better 

 adapted to his purpose. Many swine raisers claim that there is "more in the 

 feed than in the breed", but this is not true of cattle. The best breed for 

 milk or butter is never the best for beef. 



The more common breeds for dairy purposes are the Jerseys, Ayr- 

 shires, Guernseys, Holstein-Friesians, Devons and milking strains of Short- 

 horns, though Dutch Belted, Brown Swiss, and a few other breeds have 

 their admirers among dairymen. 



THE JERSEYS. 



The Jerseys, formerly known as Alderneys, are in this country the 

 most common breed, where cows are kept for strictly dairy purposes, and 

 with no regard for beef qualities. The cows are small, generally weigh- 

 ing below 1,000 pounds, usually rather angular in outline, nervous, good 

 feeders, and producing liberal yields of very rich milk. For genera- 

 tions they have been bred exclusively for the production of butter. Their 

 milk is usually very rich, that from a large number of cows tested at various 

 experiment stations, as reported by Professor Woll, averaging 5.4 per cent 

 of butter fat, and those at the Columbian Exposition averaging 4.88 per 

 cent. They are such persistent milkers that it is sometimes difficult to 

 dry them off between calves, and the records of many herds show an average 

 yield of over 5,000 pounds of milk per cow per year. Records of individual 

 cows show much larger yields, some running as high as 10,000 to 12,000 

 pounds, and there are two well authenticated records of cows which have 

 produced over 16,000 pounds of milk within twelve months. That the 

 milk of Jersey cows is rich in butter fat is shown by the fact that many 

 herds produce an average annual yield of over 300 pounds of butter per 

 cow. Herds averaging 400 pounds per cow are not uncommon, while 

 single animals have produced more than double that amount within the 

 same time. Jerseys are more numerous than cows of any other single breed 

 in the South, and many of the native cattle in that region show a strong 

 mixture of Jersey blood. 



THE AYRSHIRES. 



Ayrshires resemble Jerseys to a considerable extent, and are very 

 popular in the dairy sections of Canada and the Northeastern states, 

 though not common in the South. The cows are rather small in size, 

 seldom weighing more than 1,000 pounds each, but are good milk pro- 

 ducers, 5,000 pounds of milk per year being a common yield. One noted 

 herd, averaging 14 cows in milk, has a record of an average product of 6,407 

 pounds of milk per year for each cow for nineteen years. In another case 

 19 cows averaged 6,956 pounds in one year, and in numerous instances 

 single cows have given from 10,000 to 12,000 pounds. The milk is some- 

 what above the average in quality, though not so rich as that from the Jer- 

 seys. Woll gives the average fat content as 3.6 per cent, while the New 



