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A'ol. LXXII., Xo. 4228. 
A TALK ABOUT DAIRY COWS. 
The Crops in the Hill Country. 
SELLING COWS.—These are days of unrest in 
dairy circles. I believe that more dairy cattle of all 
kinds are changing hands than ever before. There 
are several reasons for this. Probably the greatest 
cue is the fact that dairy cattle are high in price, 
and the money that is offered for them makes the 
old-time dairyman reach out after it and let his cat- 
lie go. Then there is that old inherited desire of the 
Yankee farmer for a change. You know, we old- 
stock Americans are all bred from people who were 
changeable and migratory in their habits. Other¬ 
wise they would not have come to America in the 
first place. So. at any time, we see farmers selling 
i if their cows and letting their tine dairy barns stand 
NEW YORK. NOVEMBER S, 1913. 
l.ills to the dairy farms near the great cities, where 
milk is higher than up in the country, and feed is 
also higher. These near-city men buy the best fresh 
cows that they can get, feed them all they can stand, 
milk them as long as they are worth milking, and 
then pass them along to the butcher. The present 
high price of beef, with no prospect of its ever being 
cheaper, makes this seeming sacrifice of good dairy 
cows a profitable business. But it uses up the cows 
at an appalling rate. This scarcity of meat has also 
made veal high, and many a splendid embryo cow 
has gone to market at six weeks old—if she didn't 
go a few weeks before. The hill farmers are begin¬ 
ning to tumble to the situation, but, as usual, they 
have tumbled about two years later than they ought 
‘O have done. Next Spring there will he many a 
pasture inhabited only by woodchucks and eotton- 
WEEKLY §1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE GRADES.—The big majority will have to be 
contented with the raising of grades. There is no 
earthly reason why any man should any longer use 
anything but a purebred bull. This bull should be of 
the breed best suited to your needs. But there are 
a few rules in this connection that it will be wise to 
follow. For instance, if you have a high-grade Jer¬ 
sey herd, don't use a Holstein bull. These two 
breeds have been bred in their purity so long, and 
their characteristics are so antagonistic to each 
other, that they do not blend in a harmonious fashion. 
The progeny are apt to inherit the lighter milking 
qualities of the Jersey, the thin milking quality of 
the Holstein, and a homely., blend of color that 
pleases no one. It is well to bear in mind that we 
should raise cattle to please the buyer, and it is true 
that the admirers of the two breeds are about as 
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THE FAMILY INSPECTION OF THE BOY’S INVESTMENT IN A COW. Fig. 453. 
empty, while they proceed to cover over an acre or 
two of their best land with Himfiain hencoops to 
be with baby chickens at 10 cents a head. In 
;i few years these hencoops will fall to decay, and 
die farmer will repair his barn and go back to dairy¬ 
ing. Or perhaps he will give sheep or hogs a try. 
1 HE BUYERS.—Of course it takes two to make a 
bargain, and every cow that is sold must have a 
buyer. So the question comes up. who buys all of 
these cattle? There are a good many men just now 
buying farms in the Eastern States. Most of them 
are buying them with their eyes open. They know 
that the green hillsides dotted with woodland, and 
gashed with bubbling springs and rivulets, constitute 
Bod's own country for the dairy cow. And they also 
know that the cow is just as needful for the hillside 
as the hillside is for the cow. You will find no mis- 
li! - in Nature. She never tries to fit a square peg 
i ito a round hole. Therefore the majority of the 
’ m buyers are cow buyers also. Then there is that 
steady stream of dairy cows going down out of the 
tails that ought to he dotted with heifers and colts. 
It is plainly up to the Eastern farmers to raise all 
the dairy cows that they conveniently can. And, of 
course, the logical question is: “What shall we raise, 
and how shall we go about it?” 
REGISTERED CATTLE.—If one is prepared to 
do so. I should advise the breeding of purebred regis¬ 
tered cattle. But be very sure that you are pre¬ 
pared. You may think that you are, and later find 
out that you were not. You need a great deal more 
than the bank roll that you may have inherited. 
Also, you can’t go into the business intelligently by 
leading up on the literature that the secretary of 
the breed association will be pleased to send you. 
Nor can you learn the business at an agricultural 
college. There is a lot to this business that is never 
written about, and not even talked about above a 
whisper. So the best way to learn the trade is to 
get employment with the biggest (most successful) 
breeder you can, and then keep your mouth shut and 
eyes open. 
antagonistic in their likes and dislikes as the breeds 
are themselves. So if you are unfortunate enough 
to have a cow for sale that carries the blood of both 
the Jersey and the Holstein, the Jersey fancier will 
not buy her because she shows external indications 
of Holstein blood, and the Holstein fancier is apt to 
throw a fit if lie notices traces of Jersey breeding. 
I expect that some one will come forward with an 
aggrieved tale of liis old Jersey-Holstein cow that is 
a beauty in color, gives a waslitub full of milk, and 
tests 7 per cent. fat. But the rule will stand just 
the same if among the world’s readers of The R. 
IV-Y. as much as a dozen such examples should be 
found. 
JERSEY AND HOLSTEIN.—I have bred Jerseys 
for something like 20 years, and shall always have a 
warm spot in my heart for the little fawn-colored 
COW, as I shall always have the best stall in the barn 
for her. I shall probably never be able to get over 
all of that seemingly natural antagonism that the 
Jersey breeder has tor the Holstein. But the fact is 
