HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CATTLE. 



Belle Sarcastic was calved January 18, 1890, and was bred by H. P. Doane, 

 of Duffield, Genesee County, Michigan. She was sired by Sarcastic, 4,720, a 

 bull owned and bred by G. M. Shattuck, Pontiac, Mich., and out of imported 

 pure Dutch-Friesian ancestry. 



The dam was Belvisia 2d, 4,553 H. F. H. B., a cow bred by Tousey & Seeley, 

 Pontiac, Mich. She was put of Belvisia, 1,675 D.-F. H. B. The dam of this 

 cow was the famous Pauline 2d, 18 A. R., Vol. 1, and the sire Jelsum, 81 P. R. 



The sire of Belvisia 3d was Prince Nicolaas, 361 D.-F. H. B., whose dam, 

 Marie 3d, 232 M. R., was one of the best Holstein cows ever brought into Mich- 

 igan. 



She was selected by Cornelius Baldwin, at that time inspector for the 

 Advanced Register of the Old Dutch-Friesian Herd-Book, and was imported by 

 T. H. McGraw, of Portsmouth, Mich. While not a coarse cow she weighed 

 1,900 Ibs. when fat. She had a wonderful development of the milk veins, and 

 gave over 90 Ibs. of milk in a day in the old country. 



As a young heifer, Belle was decidedly beefy, broad across the shoulders, 

 and steer-like in general contour. After beginning to give milk, however, the 

 inherited dairy temperament manifested itself until, at the present time, her 

 general form approximates somewhat closely to the ideal dairy type, as is 

 shown by her photograph. 



The long head, finely chiseled, broad at the horns, strong and nervous in 

 expression; the thin, shapely neck, but slightly drooping; the sharp withers, 

 the chine straight but open and serrate : the ribs flattened and open, the loin 

 broad and strong, with a high and level rump ; the points of the thurl bones 

 far apart and covered with a pad of fat, the thighs incurving, but strong and 

 in good proportion, the udder large, even and with a long connection with the 

 body extending well up behind and well forward and continued in large crooked 

 milk veins ending in large milk wells; the skin, mellow and fine as silk, 

 covered with a coat of soft and glossy hair ; these indications point to an ideal 

 dairy cow, capable when carefully managed of producing an extraordinary 

 record. 



In disposition she lacks the gentleness and motherly qualities of Rosa Bon- 

 heur 5th, and the tendency to stupidity of Houwtje D. She is nervous, quick and 

 highly sensitive, though gentle and perfectly kind to her keeper. Her weight 

 May and June was, on the average, 1,490 Ibs., in November it was 1,508 Ibs. 

 During the winter it ran up very slowly to 1,600 Ibs. by the latter part of April 

 and early May, 1895. The average of her weekly weights in July, 1895, was 

 1,622 Ibs. 



Belle's first calf was dropped on the 1st of April, 1893, her second on the 

 13th of April, 1894. She did not again become pregnant until the 23d day of 

 May, 1895. Her milk and butter record began on the 26th day of April, 1894. 

 As with Rosa Bonheur and Howtje D., she was milked thrice daily, and each 

 mess was separately tested in duplicate by the Babcock test. 



The milk record for the year was 21,075.8 Ibs., equivalent to an average of 

 57.74 Ibs. per day. * In the 490 days she gave 27,626.3 Ibs., or an average of 56.38 

 Ibs. per day. 



Reducing the butter fat yields to butter, the 632.78 Ibs. of fat yielded in 

 the year is equivalent to 738.24 Ibs. of butter. This is an average of 14.15 Ibs. 

 of butter per week for the year. 



The 827.22 Ibs. of fat given in the seventy weeks is equivalent to 965.09 Ibs. 

 of butter, which is an average of 13.79 Ibs. of butter in a week. 



At the beginning of this record the cow was but four years and one- 

 quarter old. On account of her square and beefy form she had not been 

 selected as one of the most promising heifers of the herd and given no unusual 

 attention as a calf or heifer. Her previous record of 9,255.5 Ibs. of milk was 

 indicative of no unusual powers. She had during the summer of 1894 good pas- 

 ture and a daily grain ration of 21 Ibs. of the mixture of 100 Ibs. of corn meal, 

 75 Ibs. of Oat meal and 25 Ibs. of bran. 



Her milk flow was singularly even as to quantity and quality, considering 

 the fact that she was a young cow and somewhat rapidly growing in weight. 



Belle had been turned to pasture before this record began. As the pastures 

 dried up they were supplemented by various green fodders, oats and peas, sweet 

 corn and various leguminous crops. During the hottest weather and when the 

 flies were particularly bad, she was confined during the day time in a cool sta- 

 ble and allowed to run in a pasture at night. 



