.lanuary, 1914 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



point Ihnt calls for special com- 

 ment in this breed. It is not of a 

 IHMidvnt eharaotor as i^n inost other 

 hreeds. It is vxtrcniclv broad, 

 tilling- ont the Hanks on cither 

 siilo, exti-ndinir will forward and 

 k-v cl wnth the belU- line of the ani- 

 mal. The sole is level, carrvint;- 

 iTood teats neath' placed and well 

 in Iwlow the udder. Passing 

 backwards the hiiuUpiarters of the 

 udder are carried well up behind. 

 Altojret'her the udder is sui>erior in 

 fo'rn;«tion to that of any other 

 dairy breed. Professor Plumb, of 

 America, savs : — " A row of A\t:- 

 shird cows in a .show-ring^ alonor- 

 si'de other dairy breeds is conspicu- 

 ous for the uniform and superior 

 tvjje of udder." 



The points of the bull differ from 

 tho5W of the cow onlv in masculine 

 characters, which, according to 

 the general rule, ought to be dis- 

 tinctlv defined, although at one 

 time a feminine tendency in the 

 appearance of the bull was thought 

 to indicate that he belonged to a 

 food milking strain. The. scrotum 

 should be white and the rudiment- 

 ary teats large and wide 'auart. 

 His weight at maturity should be 

 from 1,200 lbs. to t,,soo lbs. 



— Milk Records. — 



On thic cheese-makiTig fa'rms in 

 the southern countries of Scot- 

 land, Ayrshire, Wiirtownsbire, Kirk- 

 cudbrisfhtshire, and Dumfriesshire, 

 Ayrshire is exclusi' ely used. It is 

 the {general cu.stom in these coun- 

 tries to ha ye the cows cal^'itig in 

 the sririno", in February and March. 

 By the- lieErinning of April they can 

 be turned out to eraze during the 

 dav and reaiiire yerv little stall 

 feeding, while about six weeks 

 after this date it is customary to 

 let the cows run at the grass 

 both nieht and day with no addi- 

 tional feedine. Treated in this 

 manner the Ayrshire cows giye a 

 good supply of milk for nine 

 m.onths, generally IreTinnintr to fall 

 off as the winter approaches and 

 gettingf dry for about three 

 months before calyine. Thus the 

 Ayrshire requires yery little stall- 

 feeding to keep in condition during 

 the cold winter months. In addi- 

 tion to heine nat'ir^lly adapted to 

 the poor land of these districts, 

 the Ayrshire (nves milk possessing, 

 particularly small butter-fat elob- 

 ules especially suitable ior the 

 cheese-making industry carrited on 

 there. 



The milk record campaign in 

 Scotland was started by .John 

 Spier in iqo2, and this strenuous 

 adyocate of the scheme saw his 



labours re\va*rded before hii? d'eath 

 — an irreparable loss to Scotland 

 —in ls)lo. The Milk Records So- 

 ciety will remain a permanent 

 memorial to his insi"lit and wis- 

 dom. It is reeoeni/ed on all sides 

 that milk 'records are essential in 

 any dairy herd, and yet it is one 

 of the easiest things to ' over-<le- 

 yelop this faculty to the ruin of 

 other good qualities of the cow. 

 This is the ])oint w"here the show- 

 yard ought to be a pronounced 

 factor in sustaining a type of ani- 

 mal at once healthy and a milk 

 producer. 



The mil . record scheme in Scot- 

 land has made great strides since 

 its inauguration in iqo^. In that 

 year there were 1,342 cows being 

 tested, and the numbers haye in- 

 creased to 18,000. At first the 

 testing was under the supervision 

 of the Highland and Agricultural 

 vSociet^^ and continued thus till 

 1907. It was then recognized 

 that some separate lro•:^^• was re- 

 quired to eoyern the scheme, and 

 the namte was chanrred to the Scot- 

 ti.sh Milk Record Committee, which 

 now carries out the testing of all 

 the dairy herds belontring to mem- 

 bers of the society. 



In the Pan-American dairy test 

 in iqoi for fiye cows of a dairy 

 breed, Ayrshires came second to 

 Holstein Friesians in bir^^est A4eld 

 of milk and net r^rofits. In 120 

 days the five Ayrshires v^el^'ed 

 .12,998.2 lbs. milV, com'^nred with 

 i'Q,26o.2 lbs. for Holstein Friesians. 

 The best Ayrshirp vi'-Tr''?:-^ '■,nMT.- 

 Ibs. of milk of 3.59 per cent, but- 

 ter fat. 



' The following record of an Ayr- 

 shire cow in Scotland gives a 

 good idea of the breed as a ya,u- 

 able dairy asset : — " She has l^orne 

 five livinei calves without going 

 dry. One month before cfilyino- she 

 yields 30 Oi. of milk, or about 

 half her normal maximum during 

 the first three months of her lacta- 

 tion period. On the " common " 

 pasture in iQos, with no addition- 

 al feeding, tliree weeks after calv- 

 incT she g-ave 30 fbs. of milk at 6 

 a.m. and 2q His. of milk at 6 p.m.; 

 butter-fat by Gerber's test -.1 ner 

 cent. Her weisrht after milking was 

 9 cwt. 2 qrs. 



But it is not individual records 

 which make a breed famous. , Any 

 cow can be fed and forced to yield 

 abnormally lar^e r cords. WTi'en the 

 averap^es for herds are considered, 

 and the conditions under which 

 these averao-es are obtained, a true 

 estimate of a breed is a'rrived 

 at. The following averages have 



l>een obtained in the sonth-vpestiern 



countries of Scotland, where the 

 cows are treated in the manner 

 described in an earlier part of this 

 articl,', and where the land is 

 comi)arativelv jjoor. In iy<>6 the 

 average yield of milk, in ei"^hteen 

 dairies containin-r 4n cows (includ- 

 ing heifers two and three years 

 old), was H75 gallons of milk of 3 

 lier cent, buttiv-r-fat in a 'actation 

 jreriod ranginir, as to individual 

 cows, from about thirty-eight to 

 nearly forty-six weeks. That 3 per 

 cent, butter-fat must not be taken 

 to mean that the average butter- 

 'fat was 3 per cent. It simply 

 means that the standard 3 ])er 

 cent, was chosen and the yields 

 calculatt'd accordingly. The aver- 

 age yield of Ayrshires may be put 

 down at 650 to 700 gallons ol milk 

 of from 3.7 to 3.9 per cent, butter 

 fat. — South African Agricultural 

 •Tournal. 



4 



Horse Feeding. 



The following, from a French au- 

 thority, contains much of value to 

 every farmer : — 



Three meals are necessary and 

 sufficient, with an interval of four 

 or five hours between, to keep a 

 horse in good condition. 



Oats take at least two hours to 

 dip-est : hay takes three hours, and 

 because it takes so long to digest 

 it .should be given when the day's 

 work is over. 



The evening- meal should be a fuU 

 meal, the animal being then at 

 rest, and able to digest its food 

 at leisure. 



There .should be an interval of 

 half an hour between the return of 

 the horse to the stable and his 

 getting his evening feed. 



Too much food at a meal, or too 

 long abstinence between meals, fol- 

 lowed by voracious feeding-, is con- 

 ducive to colic and indigestion. 



Irregularly fed, he is 'gi\ian to 

 showine his impatience by letting 

 his hoofs play about the woodwork 

 of his stall. 



Giving " refreshers ' ' at odd 

 times is also bad. Remember that 

 both stomach and bladder should 

 never be loaded in work time, 

 whether 1 ght or heavy work is 

 done. 



A horse, therefore, should not be 

 ri'dden or driven immediately after 

 a meal, on the same principle that 

 it ought not to be fed sooner than 

 half an hour after work is over. 



