Danisk Dairy Farming. 
319 
conveys it direct to the cheese tubs, whence it passes out in the 
shape of whey to the piggeries. The dairy herd on the farm con- 
sists of 170 cows. 
A comparison between the dairy management and produce of 
our own country with that of Denmark woukl be valuable to both 
countries, if the data of both were equally reliable. But unfortu- 
nately this could not be insured, as, with a few exceptions, we 
are not in possession of any dairy statistics that we could offer 
for comparison, and even those are too limited in their details to 
justify a verdict on either side. The following returns from our 
own dairy records, however, may interest the Danish farmers, 
and perhaps induce a more general attention to selection and 
care in breeding, as adopted by Mr. Tesdorpf, and perhaps also 
the introduction of foreign blood, possessing milking properties, 
to cross with the best of their own. These returns are, no doubt, 
to be relied upon, as far as they go, — still they must be only 
taken for what they are worth — the milk produce of certain 
dairies on a comparatively limited scale. 
Our principal dairy breeds are the Ayrshire, the Channel 
Islands, the Shorthorns, the Suffolk, and the Kerry. Some 
published returns of two dairies of Ayrshire cows give the 
annual milk produce per cow at 650 and 632 gallons respec- 
tively. Three returns of dairies consisting wholly of Shorthorns 
show a produce of 540 gallons, 630 gallons, and 765 gallons re- 
spectively, or an average of 625 gallons per annum for each cow. 
In two dairies where half-bred Shorthorns were kept, the yield 
was 810 and 866 gallons respectively for each cow. In four 
dairies in Ireland where pure Kerrys and crosses with Shorthorns 
and Ayrshires were kept, the annual \ roduce per cow was re- 
turned at 500 gallons, 600 gallons, 675 gallons, and 740 gallons, 
respectively ; or an average, on the four dairies, of 630 gallons 
per annum for each cow. A dairy of " pure Kerrys " * gave an 
average of 488 gallons per cow, and another of the larger Irish 
breed gave an average of 583 gallons per head per annum. In 
the great London dairies these returns are greatly exceeded. 
The cows kept are large-framed Shorthorn and Yorkshire 
crosses, Avhich by good feeding bring the returns up to nearly 
1000 gallons per annum for each cow kept. The custom in 
these establishments is to dispose of a cow directly her milk falls 
below two gallons a day, and buy another in her place. 
The following milk return of one of our best managed dairy- 
farms (Frocester Court) shows the relative produce of cows in 
the successive years of their milking. The first lot were bought 
in at two years old ; all the others at three years. 
* A remarkably small native Irish breed. 
