American Agriculturist 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man ”—Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 111 For the Week Ending May 5, 1923 Number 18 
Guernseys—Why I Keep Them 
One Reason Is The Housewife uAs She Appears At 6 A.M. 
I WELL remember the late E. R. Zimmer 
saying to me not so very long ago as 
we walked down the street in Syracuse: 
“Why is it, Babcock, that you take so 
much pride in your Guernseys, and yet when 
you write about cows it’s always about your 
Holsteins?” Bill Davis, secretary of the 
State Guernsey Club, was along, and Zim¬ 
mer’s question placed me in a somewhat 
embarrassing position. I don’t recall what 
I answered, but now I shall square myself, 
anyway, by writing about Guernsey cows as 
fully and with as much enthusiasm as my 
editor will permit. 
The truth of the matter is that I love a 
good cow, no matter 
what her color. But 
next to the pleasure of 
owning and handling 
good cows, and even 
of more fundamental 
importance, comes the 
economic necessity of 
making them pay; and 
I can truthfully say 
that good cows of 
at least three dairy 
breeds have both given 
me pleasure and paid 
in my herds. 
Why I Chose the 
Guernsey 
The Guernsey, how¬ 
ever, has her own in¬ 
dividual and peculiar 
qualities, and some¬ 
thing of her appeal to 
the dairyman I hope 
to bring out in this 
article. 
It is necessary for 
me to draw mainly on 
my personal experiences and observation; I 
hope that my readers will not draw the con¬ 
clusion that because I do this I am unduly 
impressed with the importance of my own 
ideas. Rather, I want to give as true a re¬ 
flection as I can of the reasons which led me 
to invest money in the Guernsey breed, and 
of the experiences I have had with it. 
I must go back to 1904 and 1905, my last 
two years in high school, when I left the 
farm between four and five o’clock in the 
morning and peddled milk around a small 
village before going to school. Then it was 
that I became acquainted with the house¬ 
wife—the housewife as she appears at six 
in the morning, minus some of the embel¬ 
lishments of the afternoon, with her temper 
on edge and a biting sarcasm at her com¬ 
mand. Then it was that the importance of 
the cream line on a bottle of milk was im¬ 
pressed on me; it never will be forgotten. 
Then, too, I learned of the real appreciation 
people have for a golden yellow color in milk. 
It’s Creamier—It’s Golden Yellow 
When, fifteen years later, I decided to em¬ 
bark on an enterprise to furnish consumers 
with milk direct from my farm, my mind 
naturally reverted to those early experiences, 
nnd I chose tl^lliGuernsey because I knew 
By H. E. BABCOCK 
with her, as with no other breed, I could 
build a high-class retail milk business. 
The milk of the Guernsey cow is distin¬ 
guished by its creaminess and by its golden 
yellow color. This golden yellow color is 
'distinctly a breed characteristic. Not only 
does it appear in the milk of the Guern¬ 
sey, but in her hide and skin secretions 
as well. 
The idea is also carried on in the color of 
the typical Guernsey, which is always light 
or dark fawn and white, and which, to meet 
the highest ideals, has a fawn-colored nose 
and tongue, in distinct contrast to the black 
nose and tongue of the Jersey. 
The Guernsey cow originated on the Isle 
of Guernsey, a small island about twenty- 
four miles square, lying in the English Chan¬ 
nel. Neighboring to it is the Isle of Jersey, 
from which originated the Jersey cow. 
The Home of the Guernsey 
The agriculture of both islands has been 
developed with reference to the London mar¬ 
ket, and on the Isle of Guernsey truck crops 
and greenhouses have held a more prominent 
place in the minds of the farmers than the 
Guernsey cow. 
This has resulted in the development of 
the Guernsey as a side issue, agriculturally 
speaking, and as a family cow. The island 
is so small that the cows are staked out in¬ 
stead of pastured, and a great deal of the 
time they are fed on the surplus roughage 
resulting from garden operations. As a re¬ 
sult, the Guernsey cow has been bred gentle, 
and is able to adapt herself to a large con¬ 
sumption of farm-raised roughage. 
These characteristics—the tractability and 
intelligence of Guernsey animals, both cows 
and bulls—immediately strike one who has 
handled the larger and rougher Holsteins. 
The Guernsey’s ability to give a satisfactory 
milk production on roughage, with little or 
no grain, is another outstanding quality, and 
it makes her, under certain conditions, a 
very economical producer. 
The importation of Guernseys into Amer¬ 
ica began in 1818, and scattered shipments 
continued up until 1905. From then until 
the present time an average of about six 
hundred animals a year has been imported 
into the States. This American market has 
aroused the farmer on the Isle to a greater 
appreciation of his cows, and he undoubtedly 
takes better care of them, since he is sure of 
selling good animals to America. 
In America, as is the case with all pure¬ 
bred animals, the in¬ 
terests of the Guern¬ 
sey are looked after 
by an association of 
breeders, known as the 
American Guernsey 
Cattle Club. This or- 
ganization has its 
headquarters in Peter- 
boro, N. H., where it 
maintains registers of 
all pure-bred Guern¬ 
seys and conducts a 
so-called advanced 
registry, in which is 
kept a record of ani¬ 
mals which, under 
certain official condi¬ 
tions, make production 
records. 
An Association of 
Breeders 
Life membership in 
the American Guern¬ 
sey Cattle Club costs 
$50, and is only 
granted to men who 
are recommended by existing members of the 
club and who receive the practically unani¬ 
mous support of the membership. Registra¬ 
tion of pure-bred Guernseys costs $2, and 
records of transfer of ownership cost $2.50. 
The money collected from membership, regis¬ 
trations, transfers, and other incidental fees 
is used to support the association and to put 
out propaganda and advertising for the ad¬ 
vancement of the Guernsey breed. 
Members of the association meet annually 
in May and elect officers and a board of di¬ 
rectors. Between annual meetings the affairs 
. of the association are conducted by the di¬ 
rectors and officers. 
The Practical Merits of the Breed 
Before I discuss further the distinguish¬ 
ing characteristics of the Guernsey, or even 
allude to some of the handicaps with which 
the owner of a herd of Guernsey cattle finds 
himself confronted, I must again refer to my 
statement at the beginning of this article. 
I am setting down here only my own experi¬ 
ences and observations; these may well be 
challenged by others with wider experience. 
To begin with, the Guernsey breed has a 
distinct advantage over every other dairy 
breed in the natural golden color of the milk 
(Continued on page 402) 
In her native home, the Guernsey has been closely associated with humans. As a result she is 
especially gentle. 
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