August, iyi8 



llirouph the fall the good work 

 ihev iutiugurated - iu the spring 

 pasture, there must be no diminu- 

 tion in feed or alternation ; if they 

 .ire to keep at it all winter and 

 spring, and even do their best at 

 early pasture, there must be al- 

 ways the full and sutUcient leeil 

 and uni"emitting care. 



And so in outline, shall wc get 

 the good cow and keep her. 



^ 



Milk and Beef. 



The question has long been de- 

 bated w-ith, so far, no really satis- 

 factory result, as to whether the 

 quality of milk can be much im- 

 proved by any system ' of extra 

 feeding, S(5me writers asserting 

 that quality is solely an attribute 

 inseparable from the breed of the 

 cow. This dictum is a bit too 

 ex cathedra, and, like most posi- 

 tive assertions, will • be all the 

 better for a little qualification. It 

 is well known and admitted that 

 the quantit}' ^can be considerably 

 enlarged by feeding on wet 

 brewers' grains, a larger allowance 

 of roots, and a greater than, usual 

 supply of water, etc., but at the 

 same time the quality of the 

 milk is very much lowered, says 

 a writer in the " Live Stock Jour- 

 nal," so that in milk prosecutions 

 before m.agistrates, in which ap- 

 peals to the cows are asked for, 

 the important question as to how 

 the cows are fed should be en- 

 quired into, for water can thus be 

 introduced through the mouth of 

 the cow into the milk as certainly 

 as if the milk and watar were 

 mixed after the milking. No less 

 certain is it that the quality of 

 milk can, be raised by feeding, "'to 

 a certain extent." This is demon- 

 strated by the fact that there will 

 be a greater quantity of butter 

 when cows are feeding in one pas- 

 ture, and that the weight will fall 

 when they are removed to another 

 field. So with regard to certain 

 extra good feeders ; the quality, can 

 be raised to a certain point, but 

 once that point has been reached 

 the animal then begins to put on 

 Hesh, there is no further increase 

 in quality, and the quantity of 

 milk gradually, decreases ; in the 

 majority of such cases the cow be- 

 comes dry before her normal time. 

 This was what was done by pedi- 

 gree Shorthorn breeders during the 

 big prices of the seventies of last 

 century. Foreign Ipuyers wanted 

 beef animals, and b»ef only ;• it 



was immaterial whether a cow had 

 a good, bad, or indifierent udder, 

 and at the public sales reference 

 was usually made only tq the 

 lleshing qualities. The}' required 

 oi'ir best l)eef animals to croiss with 

 their scrub cattle, in order to sup- 

 l)lement the British llesh-meat 

 market, so our pedigree-breeders 

 naturally fed with concentrated 

 foods uritil they all but eliminated 

 milk. During the intervening years, 

 and consequent on the great fall in 

 l)rices, they have been trying to 

 g^t back the undoubted milking- 

 power which is the natural herit- 

 age of the Shorthorn, and in some 

 herds with considerable siuccess. 

 But a prejudice against pedigree 

 Shorthorns as dairy, cattle had 

 been created in the minds of far- 

 mers, and it has not in the inter- 

 val beefi wholly eradicated, though 

 it is diminished. True, pedigree 

 bulls have been purchased and used 

 by farmers simply because they 

 had a pedigree ; but in the ma- 

 jority of cases the fatal mistake 

 has been made of not satisfying 

 themselves that such sires were 

 from milking strains " on both 

 sides." A beef pedigree bull will 

 lower the milk-capacity of a far- 

 mer's herd, whilst adding to its 

 flesh-qualities. This error on the 

 part of so many farmers has been 

 recognised and has led to the 

 foundation of herds of pedigree 

 dairy Shorthorn cattle, the chief 

 object being the breeding of young 

 bulls from sires and dams combin- 

 ing both milk and flesh. 



— Growing Business. — 



Some pioneers of reform in this 

 direction are already being, be- 

 sieged with applications for young 

 bulls, not only from other pedigree 

 breeders, but also from large dairy 

 farmers who a very few years ago 

 would have looked askance at a 

 registered bull, fearing- to use it in 

 case it should " spoil the milk 

 yield." These men., it should be 

 said, refuse to buy " a pig .in a 

 IDoke," and are guided in their 

 choice and in the price they are 

 willing to give by the evidence 

 laid before them of the milking 

 powers of the females on both 

 sides in the bull's, pedigree, and thi.s 

 evidence can only be given hy 

 means of careful and long-kept re 

 cords. The milk-book record has 

 therefore, become as important a? 

 the pedigree itself, and as recom- 

 mendations for a dairy b|ull they 

 must stand or fall together. We 

 have here the theory of heredity 

 applied to practice, but in order 

 to test its full value we must in 

 vestigate the breeding for at least 



three or four generations. For a 

 buyer to be' told that a young bull 

 is from a, cow annually yielding 

 i,oou gallons is not enough, oi 

 nearl}- enough, to induce tiiin tc 

 give a long price, because if that 

 be all he has no guarantee of un- 

 bro'^en and ^ concentrated hereditary 

 powers. To ensure this he must 

 nave the milk records of the cow's 

 dam and graml.dam, and also 

 those of the sire's dam and grand- 

 dam. At present there are indeed 

 few young bulls in any herd whose 

 pedigree could bear such a test, be- 

 cause the movement is so recent, 

 and the regular weighing of milk 

 is an extremely modern practice. 

 A breeder tells me that iiC) has sold 

 ^no less than twenty-three bulls in 

 the last few months, at an aver- 

 age of about £^0 each, specially as 

 dairy sires, and this is the strong- 

 est possible proof of the direction 

 in which things are tending. With 

 regard to milK. records, we are now 

 very much in the same position as 

 were the compilers of the first 

 volume of the Herd Book, that is, 

 we are short of reliable materials. 

 Uecognizing their immense practi- 

 cal value, the pedigree dairy 

 breeders wdl see tq it that in a 

 few years' time there will be an 

 enormous increase of milk records, 

 and breeding will be more and 

 more carried on with an eye to 

 the increase of tota\ annual yields. 

 This policy is quite understood to 

 be that of those breeders who are 

 cultivating milking bends, and is 

 the only one which, can be expect- 

 ed to succeed. Few, however, ex- 

 cept the students of heredity, are 

 likely to realize what it. involves. 

 Breeding exclusively for milk 

 means an alteration of type and a 

 stead^i widiening. of the difference of 

 shape and character between the 

 beef and milking Shorthorn. Al- 

 though we have had a few emin- 

 ent prize cows as evidence telling 

 against this statement, thev have 

 been only striking exceptions to 

 the rule that deep milking and the 

 perfection of beef points in the 

 same animal are incompatible with 

 each other. There seems no suffi- 

 cient reason for fighting against 

 this natural law, which is appar- 

 ently struggling for the unattain- 

 able, for why should we attempt 

 to maintain in the Shorthorn the 

 uniformity oi type which naturally 

 beilongs to a one-purpose breed. 

 For the future success of the 

 breed as a whole, it seem-s to the 

 writer that it would be better, for 

 every breeder to frankly recognize 

 that if he wants abundant milkers 

 he must be prepared to surrender 

 the beef type as it is understood 

 in the showyard. 



