1902 
THE RURAL TNKW-YUKKEK. 
699 
HOW HE BUILT UP THE DAIRY HERD 
Breeding for Quality. 
So much is being said and written in 
these days about the cow with the large 
product and the consequent profit there¬ 
of, as well as of a profitable market for 
the same, that I think many are in¬ 
clined to be discouraged, thinking that 
these things can only be attained with 
high-priced fancy animals and equip¬ 
ment; hence are only possible to those 
with “long pocket books,” and conse¬ 
quently beyond the reach of the ordinary 
young farmer, often with too little work¬ 
ing capital, and a mortgage to look after 
besides. It has therefore seemed that 
some one might be helped and encour¬ 
aged if I set in order some of our ex¬ 
periences along these lines. 
First, let me say that I was always 
taught to regard animal husbandry as 
a very necessary part of the farm econ¬ 
omy, and we always kept a good deal of 
stock of one kind or another, but never 
were in the dairy business to any extent 
after I was old enough to take an inter¬ 
est in affairs. In fact, I was rather 
prejudiced against it from an experience 
of my father’s in shipping milk to New 
York. The business of buying cows 
from the dairy districts in the Fall, and 
feeding them mostly coarse food through 
the Winter, sending them to New York 
when fresh in the Spring, took more 
capital than I could spare. It had ceased 
to be profitable, also, as the cows cost 
nearly as much in the Fall as they were 
worth when fresh in the Spring, to say 
nothing of those that proved barren, and 
worthless for dairy purposes. I also 
found that the manure made from the 
coarse food fed to such stock was of 
very poor quality. Then I tried fatten¬ 
ing calves. This paid well when the 
calves could be obtained, and did not 
get an epidemic of scours among them. 
But it ruined the cows, and I felt as 
though I ought to do something that 
was permanent and would give me a 
dairy of value, which I could be proud 
to look at and show my friends. 
About this time a cooperative cream¬ 
ery was started on the cream-gathering 
plan, about nine miles from me. I then 
determined to start a dairy of largely 
Winter milkers, and of the Jersey type. 
I had no money to buy expensive cows; 
but had men whom I knew in the dairy 
sections pick up for me the best cows 
they could find, with a good mixture of 
Jersey blood. These were fresh cows 
with some that had been milked several 
months, many of them two or three 
years old. The average cost was $35 per 
head. These, with a half dozen that I 
had, made up my first dairy of 20 ani¬ 
mals. I am surprised now when I think 
of it how good those cows were, con¬ 
sidering the price and the way they 
were obtained. Of course, there were 
some that went to the butcher’s at the 
end of the first season, but then there 
were others that would make 10 to 12 
pounds of butter a week, and keep it up 
for five or six months. In company with 
my next neighbor, who was also start¬ 
ing along the same line, I bought an 
aged Jersey bull, of excellent breeding 
and good individuality. On account of 
his age, and a reputation for being 
vicious, we got him for $50. Then I 
paid $25 for two Jersey heifer calves, 
and the next year $120 for two young A. 
J. C. C. cows. Unfortunately for me, 
the first year the number of heifer calves 
was small, but we raised every one. 
This I soon found was a mistake. Since 
I have only raised the heifers from the 
best cows, and later only those calves 
that were well developed and showed 
some indication of a good dairy type. 
Later I learned that it was economy to 
discard some of these when a few 
months’ old, when they failed to develop 
as they should. 
Realizing that I could only use the 
old bull for a couple of years, I looked 
around and secured a Jersey bull calf, 
a few months old, for $20. This calf 
came from one of the best strains of 
Jersey blood (St. Heller), but being in 
the hands of an ordinary farmer the 
price was comparatively low. He proved 
to be one of the best bulls I ever owned. 
Unfortunately I butchered him at three 
years of age, before I knew his value, 
having the notion that a young bull was 
just as good and not wanting to keep 
two. I then made a mistake that took 
me at least two years to overcome. I 
had at the end of four years begun to 
get a dairy largely of the Jersey blood, 
and quite uniform in type and color, 
but not very large size, and with rather 
small teats, and although the milk tested 
about five per cent fat, I felt I was not 
getting flow enough, though averaging 
for the herd, including heifers with their 
first calf, 275 pounds butter per cow. 
To get larger size and more milk as 
well as better teats I bought a Guernsey 
bull, and mated him to my purebred 
Jerseys (of which I then had several). 
While 1 got a few superior cows, the 
bulk of them were neither Jersey nor 
Guernsey. Nice pretty things, but 
neither good consumers nor producers, 
and it was not until I got so strong an 
infusion of the Guernsey blood that it 
predominated that I got as good animals 
as before. Neither did I get any richer 
milk, better teats or greater size until I 
bred for them especially from individ¬ 
uals, and not from a breed as a whole. 
I would have attained the same results, 
in much less time, had I selected a Jer¬ 
sey bull from a family of large animals, 
large milkers with good teats, and the 
bull being himself well developed along 
these lines; rather than to try to get 
these things from an inferior of Guern¬ 
sey blood. I believe the same thing 
would have been true had my founda¬ 
tion stock been Guernseys and I had at¬ 
tempted to cross them with Jerseys. 
My advice to anyone is never mix breeds. 
The stronger infusion of the blood de¬ 
sired the more certain will be the re¬ 
sults. ' 
I have come more and more to appre¬ 
ciate the importance of individual ex¬ 
cellence as well as breeding in a bull. 
So my next Guernsey bull was selected 
very carefully by a friend who was an 
expert. He was a most valuable animal, 
but unfortunately died from an accident 
when four years old. My next purchase 
was a calf from a noted herd of Guern¬ 
seys from a cow that had made over 400 
pounds of butter in a year, and has since 
made nearly 600 pounds, and one of their 
best bulls. Because he had a brown 
muzzle I got him for $50 ($25 off for 
failing to have the fashionable color). 
He was rather coarse (I wanted more 
size), had six rudimentary teats of 
good size, and came from a line of large 
milkers. I had come to learn that five 
per cent milk was rich enough, and 
when it went much beyond one was apt 
to get a rather delicate animal, and one 
inclined to sterility. What have been 
the results? An increase in size (as 
much as desired), larger flow of milk 
as well as better teats and udders. So 
strong is this tendency that four out of 
five of his heifers have two well-de¬ 
veloped rudimentary teats. I am now 
using him on his own heifers and sav¬ 
ing the best heifer calves from them 
alter they are three years old. We have 
a herd most of which can hardly be dis¬ 
tinguished from purebred Guernseys, 
with good form and udder, and yielding 
us about 5,750 pounds of five per cent 
milk per year including always the two- 
year-old heifers with their first calves, 
of which there are usually about five or 
six in the herd. 
It will be readily seen that very little 
money was invested. The home herd 
has grown from 20 to 30, beside another 
of 20 that is being built up on similar 
lines on another farm, and we now sell 
off surplus from these herds (old and 
faulty cows, heifers, calves and a few 
each year of selected family cows at $70 
to $75 per head), from $300 to $500 an¬ 
nually. I could make more production 
if I had only mature cows, and doubtless 
it would be as cheap to buy as to save 
them, but w^ere to buy? “Aye, there’s 
the rub!’* and it makes me rather keep 
the cows I raise than “fly to others that 
I know not of.” I believe in a few more 
years by careful selection and good de¬ 
velopment I can show a herd that for 
form and production will be the equal of 
most herds of pure breeds, and at a very 
small cash outlay, while I got from 
them more excellent stock the descend- 
ents of which are in my herd to-day. So 
long as I was not starting a herd of pure- 
breds, I am inclined to think this out¬ 
lay was unwarranted. Not but what 
I could have got these results more 
quickly and surely by buying at first 
carefully selected pure breeds. But 
where was the money to come from? 
Then, too, we have been living off 
these cows all these years. This article 
is already too long. Later I will de¬ 
scribe how we built up a market for our 
product, and how we handled the same. 
EDWAtRD VAN AT.STYNE. 
POULTRY PROSPECTS. 
Poultry is scarce; lighter supply now ar¬ 
riving than former years, and prices higher 
than last year two to three cents a pound. 
Turkeys are especially scarce. Plymouth 
Rock varieties are best sellers here. We 
are interested more in the egg production. 
The general opinion is that eggs will go 
high this Fall and Winter. The writer 
bought at packing time four cars of April 
eggs. Are they good property to hold 
awhile? THE SUTTON MERCANTILE CO. 
Pueblo, Col. 
We notice that a good many of the 
Spring chickens are not as fat and large 
as generally, but will undoubtedly be in 
good shape by holiday time. Our shippers 
are getting into the handling of Plymouth 
Rocks more extensively than heretofore, 
as that bird seems to give the best all- 
around satisfaction. From what we can 
learn we think turkeys will be unusually 
high this Fall, as a good many of our ship¬ 
pers claim they had very bad luck this 
season, due to so much wet weather, and 
think that the supply will be very light. 
Buffalo, N. Y. HARLOW BROS. 
The outlook for poultry Is slim, as our 
reports from all over the country indicate 
a short crop. The receipts have been 
much lighter this season and prices higher 
We expect high prices the remainder of 
the season. Last year we sold In carload 
lots at 10 to 11% cents, this year 12 to 13 
cents, and stock for the most part is poor 
and thin, not nearly as good as last year. 
Plymouth Rocks are the best sellers, as 
dealers want yellow-legged stock, and al¬ 
ways give it the preference. It looks to us 
as though the crop would be short for at 
least a year to come as the rainy season 
we had last Spring cut the crop short. 
Turkeys west of Chicago will be a short 
crop for the same reason, and we look for 
old-time prices at the holidays. 
Philadelphia, Pa. dulany & wharton. 
Fat 
Beef. 
Hi/fh 
Prices, 
It is the 
feeding that 
makes the 
NICE JUICY ROAST 
Ground feed is the best. It makes 
good cattle better and poor ones good. 
-^Scientific 
k/jA Grinding Mills 
make best feed from ear corn 
and all other grains. Many 
*9^ sizes for horse or other power. 
V Don’t buy a grinder until you get 
a free copy of our New Catalog R 
‘'the Foot Mfg. Co. Springfield, 0. 
The Celebrated kazoo sinin 
- grinderIU= 
Any power from up to 3-horae 
power will operate this mill. 
Capacity from 3 to 15 bushels per 
hour. Money-Huvlnu: price* 
on everything a farmer uses 
aro quoted in our large free 
catalogue No. C 83, now ready. 
Send for ittodny. Only highest 
grado goods at very lowest prices. 
You will wonder how we do it. 
CASH SUPPLY & MFG. CO.. 
Dept. lr, Kalamazoo, Midi. 
*27 
Our No. 13 V 
WOLVERINE 
Feed and Ensilage Cutter complete WITH 6 
FOUR 13-INClI KNIVES, made of very! 
best tool steel. Our FOUR EDGE CUT-J; 
TING FUJI lamp do of tool steel and gives 
four cutting edges without grinding, this la a great Improvement 
over the single od^o bar. THE KNIFE HEAD has a double adjust¬ 
ment ; the whole bead is adjustable as well as each k ni fe individually, 
always giving a good clean cut. This is not found on other cutters. 
niPC TU FLY WHEEL is furnished and in case any hardsub- 
OArt I I stance i8 fed in machine the fly wheel revolves on 
shaft, obviating breakage and possibility of accidents. THESTOP 
FEED lever is in easy reach bo feed roller can be stopped instantly. 
With our expansion gears for driving feed rolls,length of cut Ia 
varied without changing any gears from % or 1% in. 
OADiniTV With2t04h.p. 1 to 6 tons per hr. Handles straw, 
UAr All I I I hay and CORN FODDER, WITH KARS ON. 
PIIARAMTPrn to ^° absolutely perfect. If not found exactly 
UUAnAn I LLU as represented in every way and equal to cut* 
ters retailed at twice our prico, return at our expense. >VK HAVE 
NO AGENTS, thus we are able to sell direct to you at WHOLESALE 
FRICKS. We have 4? sizes and combinations of cutters at d 
shredders. Price $ 1.90 to $127.00, largest cut 25 tons an hr. Swivel 
carriers any length. WRITE FOR LARGE FREE CATALOGUE. 
II i Dl/IU 0 M ITU on 55-59 N. Jefferson Streets 
mAnvINomlln UU. Chicago, ill. 
OMMON 
SENSE 
CALF FEEDER 
"VjjHlcombines scientific and 
- practical Ideas. Over 60,000 
in use. No valves to get 
clogged and foul. Easily 
cleaned. Nipples are re¬ 
enforced. Prevents scours. 
Increases digestive eapac- 
ility ill the dairy calf. Makes 
Veal worth 2c per lb. more. The only feeder adopted 
by Kxp. Sta. Extra gain on one calf pays for two 
feeders. Prevents a "set back” from the "starving 
process.” Satisfaction (luarantcod or money re¬ 
funded. Awarded Cold Medal at Pan-Ain. Kip. Sold everywhere In 
U. S. and Canada. Prieell.M. Sent pontpald for 92.(X>, and a60o box 
of Cowl Relief tree, that will cure Caked Ilae In 12 to 24 bourn. Ileal, 
sore teats. Send for descriptive matter and 22 reasons for using feeder. 
O. H. MFG. CO., Dept. R, Lyndon, Vt. 
The BKST Cattle 
Fastening 
SMITH’S Self- 
Adjustlng 8wi< jf 
Stanchion Tho only 
Practical swing staa- 
chlon Invented. Thou¬ 
sands in use. Illust'd 
Circular free. 
GLENORA MFG. CO., 
Glenora, Yates County, 
N V Infringements 
will be prosecuted. 
DeLaIkaL 
Cream Separators 
For twenty years the World’s Standard 
Send for free catalogue. 
The De Laval Separator Co., 74Cortlandt St.,N.Y 
which tells all about the 
EMPIRE Running 
CREAM SEPARATOR.. 
If you own cows it will pay you to 
read the book, whether you want 
a separator or not. Let us send it. 
U. 8.BUTTER KXTRAOTOit CO. 
Rlnomfleld, N. J. 
! 378 
WHY DO PROGRESSIVE DAIRYMEN BUY THE U. S. SEPARATOR ? 
Because they know that they will have one then that possesses more of the qualities 
that go to make up a perfect cream separator than any other make. 
• * hat th ® . S * Skims Cleaner is an established fact, it having proved its superiority in this 
point at the I an-American Model Dairy, where it made the World’s Record of .0138 for an average 
of 50 consecutive runs, which has never been equalled by any other make of separator in the world. 
that the U. S. is more durable is being shown daily in dairies all over the country by those 
who have used other makes, but who are now using the U. S. J J 
lhat the U. S. is more simple is easily seen by everyone who has eyes. 
That the U. S. is the safest, with its gears all enclosed, everyone can understand. 
That the U. S. is easy to operate is testified to by its users. 
write ^or "u/Speetoimlfy Sw™?or “ullgu” h “ ndred3 oE “ ers “«ifying to the troth o[ the .hove statement,. 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., Bellows Falls, Vt. 
