QUANTITY OF MILK. PROF. STEWART'S COMPARISONS. 



37 



ther away. It is not a cheese making province, nor a beef raising province. It 

 is a butter making province. Again we repeat that the conditions and the cir- 

 cumstances all seem to demonstrate the conquering character of the Holstein- 

 Friesian as a dairy breed. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MILK QUANTITY YIELDED PROF. HENGERVELD PROF. STEWART KING OF WIR- 



TEMBERG'S RECORDS KLIPPART'S REPORTS OF RECORDS AVERAGE YIELD IN 



HOLLAND. 



Prof. G. J. Hengerveld of the Royal Veterinary Institute, Utrecht, Nether- 

 lands, speaking in relation to the quantity of milk yielded by this breed, says : 

 " Much pains have been taken in foreign countries to keep an account of the 

 quantity of milk yielded by [Holstein-] Friesian cows, and to compare it with 

 the yield of the most productive of other races. In the yearly quantity of milk 

 yielded by the Bern, Simmenthal, Allgan, Limborg and Ayrshire cattle, in 

 some instances the result has been in favor of the Bern, Simmenthal, Allgan 

 and Ayrshire cattle ; but generally the superiority has been with the Holstein- 

 Friesian. The Limburg and English breeds, in which we include the Ayrshire, 

 cannot be compared with them. 



" The quantity of milk depends much on the locality from whence the Dutch 

 cattle are collected, whether from clayey, loamy, peaty or sandy soil. If we 

 compare the cattle bought by the Germans on the eastern borders of our country 

 with the cattle bred on our rich pastures, we find that the yield of the latter is 

 far superior to the former. 



" In order to obtain a correct comparison of the yield of milk of different 

 breeds, the large, medium-sized and small animals of each breed should only be 

 compared together. In my description of the South Holland cattle, the large 

 and medium-sized cows, under which we may also range those of Groningen 

 and Friesland, bred on clayey and loamy soil, thirty-five hundred litres (the 

 litre is identical with our wine quart) a year I have given as the average yield. 

 It is stated by many a land owner or farmer their productiveness from time to 

 time amounts to five or six thousand litres. Cows yielding those quantities are 

 not at all rare." 



We therefore conclude, first, the yield thirty-five hundred litres a year is 

 but a medium quantity, and cannot be accepted as the yield on the clayey, 

 loamy and peaty soils of North Holland and Friesland. Second, though por- 

 tions of North Holland are sandy and dry, yet the cattle belong to to the large 

 variety, and these larger cattle are very superior to the best Swiss and Allgan, 

 and even to that exquisite milk breed known under the name of Rosenstein and 

 Wirtemburg. 



The following, from a work by Prof. Stewart, illustrates the value of these 

 cattle in comparison with others for the production of milk : " As I omitted to 

 give the German mode of feeding in its proper place, I will give Dr. Rhode's 

 milk ration at Eldena, in Pomerania. This is one of the most celebrated agri- 

 cultural colleges in Prussia. He details those experiments in his chapter ' On 

 the Breeds of Cattle in the Kingdom of Holland.' I do not propose to go into 

 the characteristics of the breed he describes, but merely to consider the ration, 

 and the result upon large and small cows." 



The highest yield of the Ayrshires was 5,582 Ibs., and the lowest 3,537 Ibs. 

 The highest yield of the Tondern cows was 7,012 Ibs., and lowest 4,640 Ibs. 



