914 
TTHB5 RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 11 , 
Live Stock and Dairy 
SUCCEEDING WITH AYRSHIRE CATTLE. 
[Read by E. J. Fletcher at the Farm¬ 
ers’ Week Meeting at the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College.] 
The Ayrshire breed is said by many to 
have originated from Channel Island 
breeds, and from white wild cattle of 
Scotland, but this the Scotchmen firmly 
deny. At any rate they originated in 
the county of Ayr, Scotland, and have 
been bred there for more than a century; 
the Ayrshire cow of today is a cow of 
medium size weighing from 1,000 pounds 
to 1,200, the bulls from 1,500 to 2,000 
pounds. 
The Ayrshire is a rather nervous cow 
and will use those nerves to support her¬ 
self. They are always active in walking, 
eating, and chewing their cud, showing a 
nervous energy • that should go well 
toward making milk. The first importa¬ 
tion was made into the United States in 
1822, the first into Massachusetts in 
1S37. At that time Ayrshires were' lit¬ 
tle known, as no herd books had been 
published in this country or Scotland, 
but as the people become more acquainted 
with the breed and found them proving 
their worth as dairy animals, and be¬ 
coming more interested in them, a herd 
book was established in Scotland in 1878, 
and in the U. S. in 1S63. I think there 
were thirteen men to incorporate the 
Ayrshire Breeders’ Association. I pur¬ 
chased my first Ayrshire animal, a bull 
four months old, about 22 years ago and 
go a long distance to breed an animal to 
improve certain points in which their an¬ 
imals are deficient. 
Their cattle all have to make a profit 
for their owners; as they are kept on 
rented farms they are the rent payers. 
That partially accounts for some of the 
records in Scotland not being as large as 
some of the records made in the United 
States, as these cows are fed wholly on 
the products raised on those rented 
farms. Their pastures I must say are 
much better than ours, as they practice 
a rotation of crops; first year, oats or 
corn as they call it, second year turnips, 
then hay two years and pasture two 
years, and as they have much more moist¬ 
ure than we, there is good pasturage from 
April to November. The Scotch breeder 
has been very reluctant in keeping milk 
records, but as he has always kept a 
sharp lookout on his pocketbook and has 
found that the progeny from the animals 
making good records sell for much higher 
prices, he has accepted the idea, and now 
nearly all the breeders are keeping rec¬ 
ords. 
The Ayrshires in the U. S. 20 years ago 
were more red in color and not bred quite 
as sharp to type as the present day. At 
that time I think they were a little larger 
than those we imported. They had that 
same clean-cut head, full eye, and active 
appearance they have today; they were 
fine of bone, slim horns sometimes turn¬ 
ing down, soft mellow hide, large udders, 
good tents, well-spread large milk veins 
and wells. The Ayrshire in the U. S. 
25 years ago was not quite as straight 
and strong in the back as today, often 
ewe necked, with not quite as level ud¬ 
der as we breed today. The udder has 
been a point on which much thought and 
study has been directed for a long time, 
and now at the present time the Ayrshires 
have an udder well fitted Tor the stor¬ 
age of milk. It should run well up be¬ 
hind, also run well forward and be firm¬ 
ly attached to the body, also be very 
level underneath. Men of other breeds 
AYRSHIRE COW DALFIBBLE CRUMMIE IMP. 
even went in debt for him. Afterwards 
when I asked the man I purchased him 
from, how he knew I would ever pay 
him, he replied: “If you knew enough 
to know j’ou wanted Ayrshires I knew 
I was sure of my pay.” I soon added 
more to my number, and as I bred and 
cared for them much myself, I became 
more and more interested in them, and 
always thought I would go to Scotland 
some day and see the Ayrshire in their 
native home. 
Four years ago I had the great pleas¬ 
ure of doing so. While there I made a 
close study of the Scotchman’s methods 
in caring for, breeding, and developing 
their animals. I found, too, that the 
women and girls look after the cattle as 
much as or more than the men, feeding 
and milking them, and they knew the 
pedigree of each animal as well as, if not 
l etter, than the men. In my estimation 
the Scotch people are the keenest and 
wisest breeders in the world, and have 
bred the Ayrshires almost to perfection. 
In the first place, his business is his 
life’s ambition, and he watches it in 
every detail. 11 is business is his pleas¬ 
ure, his theatre, his whole life’s work, 
and some of the best Scotch breeders take 
more enjoyment in seeing the cattle they 
have developed look right, walk right, than 
we Americans at our various places of 
amusement, and satisfy their ambition in 
having such animals led out before them. 
Mr. Osbone of Morton Mains, breeder 
of Nellie Osbone of Chicago World’s Fair 
fame, had some of his animals led out be¬ 
fore me, (his son was 1 rding them out). 
One did not show just right, when his 
father said: “Alex, you ken better nor 
that, bring her back again.” And Alex 
brought her back walking backwards 
holding her head well up and making her 
walk right. They will even spend a 
whole day at cattle shows, looking at the 
success of other breeders, and studying 
the way in which they can benefit them¬ 
selves in their individual work. Let me 
say right here, the Scotchman, if he has 
an animal deficient in spring of rib, will 
feed cut hay and grain and spring those 
ribs out; if he has an animal with turned 
down horns he will put them in training 
and soon have them up where they will 
have a more attractive look. They will 
say the Ayrshire cow has everything, but 
is apt to have short teats. That has been 
carefully watched in this country and 
today I can show you whole herds, large 
herds, all with good teats, as good as any 
of the dairy breeds. 
The Ayrshire cow has inherited a 
strong constitution and great dairy cap¬ 
acity, that fits her to endure the changes 
of our New England climate and to pro¬ 
duce a large quantity of dairy products 
at the lowest cost. For example of this 
our Champion Ayrshire cow produced 
23022 pounds milk at a cost of .0159 per 
quart; 1080 pounds butter. Our best 
four-year-old 17057 pounds milk, 906 
pounds butter. Our best three-year-olds 
14582 pounds milk, 754 pounds butter; 
15122 pounds milk, 031 pounds butter; 
15050 pounds milk; 093 pounds butter. 
Our best two-year-old 12773 pounds milk, 
020 pounds butter. Our best 10 cows 
average 18737 pounds milk, 971 pounds 
butter; 419 entries mature class 10531 
pounds milk, 479 pounds butter. 146 
four-year-olds, 9599 pounds milk, 440 
pounds butter; 179 three-year-olds, 8950 
pounds milk. 415 pounds butter; 351 two- 
year-olds, 7860 pounds milk, 373 pounds 
butter; 1112 all classes. 9378 pounds 
milk, 435 pounds butter. Years ago when 
I won second in the home dairy test with 
a cow giving 10701 pounds milk and 500 
pounds butter, it was considered a good 
record, but today the whole class going 
into advanced registry average nearly 
that, and more than our best records 15 
years ago, showing the rapid advance¬ 
ment the Ayrshire breed has made in this 
very short period of time. 
At the present time, with limited cap¬ 
ital, I would advise a man to buy a pure¬ 
bred sire, always remembering that a sire 
is half the herd, study his breeding, be¬ 
come acquainted with him in every par¬ 
ticular. Find out what his dam has done, 
also his grand-dam, see what the females | 
have done on his sire’s side, as a pure- 1 
bred sire is stronger blooded than a grade, , 
you will get his blood stronger in your { 
herd. If you buy a bull from a cow giv¬ 
ing 30 pounds of milk a day and breed j 
him to a herd of 30 pounds, how can you I 
expect the results of better than a 30- 
pound cow? Buy a bull from a 60-pound 
cow and your breeding should be a 45- 
pound cow ; a bull from a 30-pound cow 
bred to a 00-pound cow would most like¬ 
ly put you back to a 45-pound cow or 
less. We claim a good bull half the herd. 
A good cow may breed for 12 or 14 years, 
and if you get six or seven heifer calves 
you are lucky, but a good bull will leave 
that number from a small herd in one 
year, so you can see his worth. A bull 
should be tided and kept until you can 
see what his progeny can do; if an im¬ 
provement over their dams you have 
started right; then purchase a few choice 
females. It is better to have a small 
number of choice animals than a large 
number of animals of inferior quality. 
Success is bound to follow such careful 
study and thoughtful breedin r . Watch 
the other man to see what he is doing 
to profit by another’s success or failure; 
find out what to do to keep up with the 
procession. The breeder must not stay 
at home satisfied with his own doings, but 
go out among the other breeders, looking 
over their animals to see how they compare 
with his; join the clubs with the men 
breeding Ayrshires, and they will help 
you a whole lot in advancing. I think 
showing at fairs helps you by comparing 
your animals with the other man’s. It 
also helps you to advertise. I remember 
the first time I showed I won first on 
bull and a first on a female and I thought 
all I had to do was breed them and raise 
prize winners forever. After showing 
your stock at fairs you are apt to sell 
some stock, and you want to sell to make 
a success. Become interested in all your 
customers, study their herds, and see 
where you can help them as much as pos¬ 
sible, as you must remember that any 
good record they may make will help you 
as well as themselves. Help them to 
sales if possible, as that gives them more 
encouragement, and as they make sales 
you will find them making more pur¬ 
chases and telling their friends of their 
success, and more buyers follow. 
You will sell many animals on descrip¬ 
tion, and always try to describe them as 
nearly as they are as possible, so as not 
to disappoint the buyer. Y'ou must be 
a good care-taker, as care means profit, 
and your herd must have good care in 
order that you can have animals that 
will not disappoint the buyer. A man 
told me once if you can stand before a 
pen of calves, chew a straw and watch 
them grow and you enjoy it you will be a 
success. I like to see the many changes a 
calf from a few days old will make un¬ 
til it becomes mature. They are very 
interesting. Now after you hav made 
some sales you feel you are getting back 
some of your first cost. I know I felt bet¬ 
ter over my first sale, a bull calf at $25, 
than I did years later when I sold a 
cow for $1,000. A farmer in New Eng¬ 
land cannot afford to keep poor stock. 
If he wants purebreds, he should choose 
the breed he likes the best and stick to 
it; he will never make a success of a 
breed he does not like, no matter how 
good it is. 
Owned Her Foal Through Fright. 
S EEING the question asked by A. R., 
page 822. reminds me of an exper¬ 
ience we had, several years ago, with 
a mare, who would not own her foal. 
After several weeks of watching her con¬ 
stantly, to prevent injuring the foal, she 
became a little less vicious, and we 
turned her out. for a little while, to graze. 
The first day she was out, we forgot all 
about her, and there came up a severe 
thunderstorm. As soon as it passed we 
made haste to find the mare and foal. 
The storm had accomplished what we had 
found impossible. Whether it was 
fright, or the thorough ducking the foal 
had received in the storm I cannot say. 
We had no more trouble, as the mare 
owned it ever after, or till weaned. She 
had several foals and always owned 
them, with this one exception. I do not 
say this is a sure way to induce the mare 
to care for her foal, but it might be tried, 
under certain conditions, that are ob¬ 
vious, and if successful, would save con¬ 
siderable work, and a much better foal 
would result. M. K. 
Massachusetts. 
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_ 
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Name...P.O. 
•State. 
Shipping Sta...No. of Sheep. 
.Hogs. 
.Cattle....... .Horses. 
