BREEDS OF CATTLE 23 



HOD. The color bears no relation to the value of any par- 

 ticular cow as a dairy animal. Mature Jersey cows usually 

 weit$h from 750 to 900 pounds. Those found on Jersey 

 Island and those recently imported are of smaller and more 

 refined type and are known as the Island type in contrast 

 to the larger, coarser type descended from the early im- 

 portations, known as the American type. 



Cows of this breed are more sensitive than many others 

 on account of a highly developed nervous temperament. 

 When handled gently they become very docile, when care- 

 les>ly handled or abused they are quite the reverse. They 

 seem to thrive better than some other breeds in warm cli- 

 ma tes. As meat producers they rank very low. The calves 

 art small at birth, weighing 55 pounds on the average and 

 th( y do not gain rapidly for the first few weeks. For these 

 reasons they are not well adapted for veal. 



The published records of Jersey cows owned by the 

 American experiment stations are given in Table 7. On a 

 farm where fairly good conditions are maintained a Jersey 

 herd should be expected to average about 5500 pounds 

 of milk per year containing on the average 5 per cent 

 of fat. A high average milk yield would be 7000 pounds 

 per cow. 



TABLE 7. PRODUCTION OF JERSEY Cows IN HERDS BELONGING 

 TO EXPERIMENT STATIONS 



