450 Selection and Milking of Dairy Cattle, [nov., 



object is to find a cow of either a pure or cross-bred type that will 

 give milk good in quantity and ample in quality. The animal 

 that will yield eight hundred to a thousand or more gallons of 

 milk a year is a most valuable asset ; especially is this the case 

 if the milk is well up to the limit, for at times, when milk is 

 fetching a low price, it may be kept at home and manu- 

 factured into either butter or cheese. Cows that will yield 

 the quantity of milk specified may^be either bred or bought, 

 though in all probability the average quantity of milk yielded 

 per cow throughout the country would amount to little 

 more than 400 gallons. Cows yielding a large quantity of 

 milk cost little, if any more, for keep and labour, while the 

 returns obtained are sufficient to make the difference between 

 a large profit and a small loss. Another point to be taken into 

 consideration in selecting for the dairy is that a cow, after her 

 milking days are finished, should be able to put on flesh and be 

 saleable as beef. Evidently dual-purpose cattle, such as those 

 that will milk well and afterwards when fed will produce good 

 beef, are a type much to be desired ; but there is, naturally, a 

 difficulty in finding any breed which combines in the highest 

 degree the best milking and feeding qualities. Before tabu- 

 lating the special characteristics of the dairy cow and the 

 points which will help in the selection of general purpose cattle, 

 the suitability of the leading dairy breeds for certain districts 

 and purposes may be pointed out : — 



Suitable for Suitable for Specially Adapted fur Most Suitable for 



Good Land. Exposed Country. Milk-selling. Butter-making. 



Shorthorns. AYelsh. Shorthorns. Jerseys. 



South Devons. Ayrshires, Welsh. Guernseys. 



Jerseys. Shorthorns. Ayrshires. South Devons. 



Guernseys. Kerries. Kerries and Dexters. 



Dexters. Dutch. 

 Lincoln Reds. 

 Redpolls. 



Suitable for either Milk- selling, Butter-viaking, or Cheese-making. — Shorthorns, 

 Ayrshires, Welsh, South Devons, and Lincoln Reds. 



For cheese-making localities. Shorthorns, Ayrshires, Devons, 

 Welsh and other classes are most in demand. Where the 

 morning milk has a tendency to contain a low percentage of 

 butter-fat, as is sometimes the case with the heavy milking 

 breeds, an addition of about 10 per cent, of milk from Channel 



