i6i 



the Ayrshire, the Devons or native cattle. I believe I would go 

 as far as any man to see a good herd of working cattle, let them 

 be of whatever breed they may, but I confess I love the little 

 Jersey best. 



The question for the farmer to answer and put to himself is 

 this: How much animal product can he produce from a given 

 quantity of food ? This is a practical question and one that must 

 be answered by the farmers for themselves. Scientific experi- 

 menters tell us that a cow requires ^ pounds of dry food for every 

 ioo pounds of her live weight, and I believe that it is pretty gen- 

 erally acknowledged to be a correct estimate by breeders gener- 

 ally. 



Now, a Jersey cow will weigh from 700 to 800 pounds. We 

 will call it 800 pounds. According to that rule, she would 

 require 24 pounds of dry feed per day, whereas the large cow, 

 the short-horn cow, or the Holstein cow, weighing 1,200 pounds, 

 would require 36 pounds of dry feed per day, leaving a balance 

 against the large animal of 1 2 pounds per day. This multiplied 

 by 365 days, the number of days in the year, would amount to 

 4,380 pounds dry feed. Estimate that at ^ cents a pound and 

 it would amount to $32.85. The usefulness of a cow extends 

 to at least eight years; I think that a cow is not past her prime 

 until she is about 8 years old. Calculating on that basis, eight 

 years, at $32.85^ year, we would have a difference of $262.85 

 for feed alone. 



Now, take it for granted that your large cow produces just 

 as much butter as my little cow and you still have a balance 

 against you in eight years of $262.85 f° r ^ ee( ^- But history does 

 not show that the big cow produces the most butter by any 

 means. The Jersey records for butter have never been equaled 

 by any other class of cows ; but take it for granted, for the sake 

 of the argument, that a large cow produces just as much as the 

 little one, they still have a balance against them in the eight 

 years of $262.85. 



I have no faith in breeding phenomenal cows any more than 

 I have in breeding phenomenal trotting horses. What the 



