1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



239 



other breeds ; the Devons for beef, dairy and 

 working oxen. As working oxen they excel. The 

 Ayrshires and Jerseys for the dairy, in which they 

 excel all the before-named breeds, and neither of 

 the families combine all the qualities required for 

 beef, work and the dairy. 



It is of secondary importance to us to raise 

 beef and working oxen, compared with animals 

 capable of producing large quantities of good 

 milk, which we sell in the form of milk or of new- 

 ly-churned butter. Of the above-named breeds 

 we find that there are only two families now prom- 

 inent enough to call your attention to as dairy- 

 stock, namely : — the Jerseys and Ayrshires, and 

 for the improvement in animals for the dairy we 

 must rely upon these two breeds. I do not mean 

 to say there are no good milkers in the other 

 breeds, but they are exceptions to the general 

 rule, such not being the fixed habit of these breeds. 

 Some may think it would be better to raise a 

 breed of our own, or, in other words, a pure Amer- 

 ican breed from our native stock, so called, think- 

 ing that such a breed would' be better adapted to 

 our pastures and climate than the pure bred cat- 

 tle we now have. It is evident that it would be 

 the work of two or three generations of men, at 

 least, to produce such a breed — but premising 

 that such is the fact, then the most feasible way 

 for us to breed cattle for milking purposes is to 

 adopt one or both of these breeds, or, in other 

 words, take advantage of the improvements made 

 for the last hundred years in the Jersey and Ayr- 

 shire cattle for making that improvement. As it 

 would take a long time to raise a sufficient num- 

 ber of pure bred animals to stock all our farms, 

 perhaps the best way would be to select good- 

 shaped, medium-sized cows of our common stock, 

 who have a thin, soft-handling skin, a broad and 

 capacious udder, with medium-sized teats, and a 

 heifer, the product of such a cross, will be likely 

 to be a good milker, although that will not always 

 follow. To raise good milking stock with any 

 certainty, it will not do to breed from a grade bull ; 

 because, although he may be a fine animal to all 

 appearance, he might, — and probably would, — 

 mark many of his progeny with the bad stain of 

 blood in his composition ; and the chances of pro- 

 ducing a fine animal would be much less with such 

 a bull and the same cow than with one puie bred. 

 Good cows, raised in this way, will answer our 

 purposes for milking, and for which they would be 

 as good, probably, as pure bred animals. Any 

 one breeding pure blooded stook should confine 

 himself to one breed, as in a stock of cattle all of 

 one blood there would be no danger of accidental 

 admixture of blood, and they will look better for 

 being all nearly alike. 



It may be urged that we should have a breed of 

 cattle that, after they were worn out for milking 

 purposes, would be as valuable for beef as the 

 Durhams. The Durhams, as a whole, are not 

 good milkers, although some families of them 

 are much better than others ; but you will find 

 that those who do give a fair quantity of milk 

 are inclined to go dry five or six months each 

 year. 



A Durham cow that will make 600 pounds of 

 beef after she is laid aside for milk, will be worth 

 about $25 for the purpose of turning out to fat in 

 the spring of the year. My idea is that an Ayr- 

 shire or Jersey cow, that will make 550 pounds of 



beef after being done with for milk, will give dairy 

 nine months of the year, two quarts of milk a 

 day at least more than the Durham. If they give 

 only one quart of milk a day more, in nine months 

 it would, at two and a half cents a quart, amount 

 to $6.80, which, calling seven years the average 

 number of years that cows are usually milked, 

 would amount to $47.60, and the difference in 

 value of the two cows for fattening would be only 

 from $2 to $5, leaving from $42 to $45 in favor 

 of the milker. 



The next thing after procuring a good calf is to 

 raise it properly. Much depends on this, as it is 

 a well established fact that no animal, half-starved 

 for the first two or three years of its life, will ever 

 come to the standard of perfection of the breed to 

 which it belongs, — so that good feeding from the 

 time of dropping the calf up to the time of the 

 heifer coming into milk, is necessary for the per- 

 fect development of the animal. I do not mean 

 by this that I would have an animal pampered, but 

 that they should be well fed and kept in a thriv- 

 ing condition all the time, and in the winter 

 more particularly, and that they should always be 

 kept from vermin, which are often allowed to in- 

 crease to such an extent as to almost eat the very 

 life out of our young cattle. Then they should 

 be sheltered from the storms in cold weather, for 

 they will suffer from being exposed to the cold 

 rains, and then left in the yard or put in a cold 

 barn, where it will take them many hours longer 

 to become dry and comfortable. Some persons 

 say it is no matter, it will make them tough and 

 hardy to stay out in the cold storms. But what 

 would be thought of a man who would keep his 

 children out all day in a drenching rain, and then 

 let them dry their clothing on their backs in a 

 cold room at night for the purpose of making 

 them hardy ? Children would probably soon die 

 under such treatment ; but animals, having more 

 tenacity of life, survive, but do not attain to such 

 perfection under that treatment as they would if 

 properly sheltered ? 



I do not know but the idea of poor keeping is 

 encouraged by many of the statements in regard 

 to cattle made to the various agricultural societies 

 for the last few years. The substance of some of 

 them is pretty much as follows : — A gentleman 

 enters a fine fat ox or cow for premium, and in his 

 statement says that the animal was kept on poor 

 hay, without any grain during the winter, and 

 summered in the pasture with very short, poor 

 feed ; or of a cow, giving an enormous quantity 

 of milk — that she has been kept on very poor 

 feed, and a little corn fodder once a day to eat. 

 Can any sensible person pretend than an animal 

 can be fattened, or made to give a large quantity 

 of milk, without good and nutritious food ? Men 

 that make such statements — instead of receiving 

 premiums — should have their statements sent to 

 the grand jury, for them to inquire into the mat- 

 ter, and see if they would not be proper subjects 

 to be indicted, under the statute, for cruelty to 

 animals ! 



A uniform kind treatment, regularity in feed- 

 ing, good shelter, cleanliness and a plenty of nu- 

 tritious food fed to them in comfortable stalls, in 

 the winter, good pasturage in the summer, with 

 an abundance of good water at all times, is what 

 I suppose would be called good management. If 

 I were called upon to state some of the points for 



