372 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTA  IE  GARDENER, 
October  16,  1902. 
The  Breeding  of  Cows. 
Out  with  a  party  shooting  the  other  day,  our  equanimity 
was  rather  disturbed  by  the  very  wild  and  threatening 
appearance  of  a  young  bull,  which  appeared  to  resent  our 
appearance  in  his  private  domain.  He  was  not  handsome, 
and  if  he  had  been  the  right  colour  would  have  reminded  us 
forcibly  of  the  bull  in  Paul  Potter’s  famous  picture.  His 
plain,  cross  bred  appearance,  and  painful  want  of  flesh, 
prompted  an  inquiry  of  a  labourer  as  to  his  breeding  and 
pedigree.  He  was  bred  on  the  farm,  and  his  dam  had  been 
the  best  cow  in  the  neighbourhood  for  milk  and  butter, 
which  was  the  reason  for  his  entire  condition.  This  farmer 
was  using  this  bull  in  the  attempt  to  breed  some  good 
milkers,  and  we  think  he  was'  adopting  a  sensible  course. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  average  farm  dairy  cow  is 
capable  of  enormous  improvement,  and  as  the  supply  of 
cows  needs  much  replenishing,  in  trying  to  increase  the 
stock  we  should  also  try  to  raise  the  standard  of  quality, 
not  with  a  view  to  the  butcher,  but  with  a  view  to  milk 
production.  The  increase  in  the  price  of  meat  may  induce 
farmers  to  breed  fleshy  animals  ;  but  the  demand  for  good 
milk  cows  is  a  staple  one,  whereas  meat  may,  and  probably 
will,  return  to  the  old  6d.  per  lb  price  before  next  year’s 
calves  can  be  reared  and  fit  for  the  butcher. 
On  many  large  dairy  farms  (and  we  speak  what  we  know) 
the  average  produce  of  each  cow  per  day  is  little  more  than 
two  gallons  of  milk.  As  we  often  meet  with  individual 
cows  which  will  give  five  gallons  per  day  for  months  (we 
once  owned  a  cow  which  would  give  seven  and  a  half  gallons 
for  some  weeks  after  calving),  there  seems  to  be  a  wide  field 
for  improvement.  Dairy  farmers  are  often  grumbling  that 
they  cannot  get  adequate  prices  for  their  milk  ;  that  8d.  per 
gallon  the  year  round  does  not  pay  them,  and  so  on.  There 
is  little  prospect  of  their  obtaining  more  than  that,  on  an 
average  of  several  years,  and  if  two  gallons  per  day  at  8d., 
or  9s.  4d.  per  week,  does  not  pay  for  the  cow’s  board  and 
lodging,  she  must  be  superseded  by  one  which  will  make  a 
better  return. 
The  multiplication  of  shows  where  all  the  prizes  are  given 
for  what  are  practically  butchers’  beasts  has  improved  the 
herds  of  the  country  in  that  direction,  but  at  the  expense  of 
milking  qualities.  Efforts  have  been  made  to  counteract 
this,  and  there  are  now  shows  where  the  object'  is  to 
encourage  dairy  stock,  and  at  some  of  the  older  shows  there 
are  now  classes  for  milk  cows  as  such  ;  that  is,  for  the  best 
milkers,  on  the  principle  that  handsome  is  that  handsome 
does. 
Being  short  of  cattle,  we  shall  have  to  breed  freely,  and 
from  such  cows  as  we  have  ;  breeding  from  only  the  best 
would  mean  not  breeding  enough.  We  must  therefore,  per¬ 
force,  breed  from  many  poor  milkers  ;  but  we  have  the‘ 
power  to  improve  them,  and  that  is  by  mating  them  with  a 
bull  from  a  crack  cow.  An  increase  of  four  pints  of  milk  per 
day,  at  8d.  per  gallon,  would,  on  fifty  cows,  mean  a  profit 
(if  there  were  none  before)  of  more  than  £300  per  annum. 
Much  has  been  done  to  improve  our  breeds  of  live  stock, 
but  too  much  attention  has  been  given  to  appearance. 
The  “John  Bull,'’  so  familiar  as  a  type  of  our  race,,  is  an 
example  of  the  flesh  producer ;  but  we  do  not  find  go-ahead 
nations  like  the  Yankees  paying  sole  attention  to  one  article 
of  commerce,  and  we  must,  like  them,  put  aside  sentiment 
and  the  worship  of  appearance  in  the  show  yard,  and  breed 
that  which  does  most  for  the  balance  sheet.  A  cow  which 
can  give  six  gallons  or  upwards  per  day  should  never  be 
slaughtered  so  long  as  she  is  capable  of  bearing  a  calf  ;  but 
we  are  sorry  to  have  to  say  that  too  often  such  animals  are 
sold  to  town  dairymen,  who  give  a  big  price  for  them,  but 
who  make  very  perfunctory  attempts  to  breed  from  them. 
They  milk  them  so  long  as  they  will  pay  for  expensive  town 
keep,  and  then  sell  them  to  the  butcher. 
A  farmer  who  has  an  eye  to  his  own  profit  should  never 
let  such  a  cow  leave  his  premises,  however  tempting  the 
price,  until  his  farm  is  so  well  stocked  with  similar  animals 
that  a  draft  sale  becomes  a  necessity.  Would  Mr.  Evens,  of 
Burton,  Lincoln,  have  built  up  such  a  milking  herd  as  he 
now  possesses  if  he  had  sold  all  his  best  cows  to  the  first 
customer?  No!  It  is  only  by  selecting  and  keeping  the 
best,  using  the  most  suitable  sires,  and  refusing  to  town 
dairymen  the  cows  which  as  a  duty  we  should  keep  for 
breeding,  that  we  can  make  permanent  improvement  in  the 
milking  averages  of  our  dairy  cattle. 
A  -word  about  the  “Jersey.”  A  cross  of  this  breed  is 
good  to  keep  up,  or,  rather,  bring  up,  the  average  of  butter- 
fat  to  a  high  standard  ;  but  though  the  Jersey  is  a  good 
butter  cow,  it  is  but  a  moderate  milker.  It  is  “  par  excel¬ 
lence  ”  the  rich  man’s  cow,  but  is  not  the  “rent  payer.” 
For  milking  qualities  an  Ayrshire  cow,  though  she  be  but 
small,  takes  much  beating ;  and  an  infusion  of  Ayrshire 
blood  will  be  good  for  the  milk  average  without  affecting 
the  quality.  Some  of  the  best  milkers  we  have  seen  have 
been  cross  bred  Irish,  whose  pedigrees  were  untraceable. 
Possibly  they  were  Kerry-Dexter,  with  a  cross  or  two  of 
Shorthorn ;  but,  at  any  rate,  they  were  marvellous  milk 
producers.  We  once  bought  such  a  cow,  apparently  barren, 
for  £10,  with  the  intention  of  feeding  her.  She  turned  out 
to  be  in  calf,  and,  after  calving,  gave  eight  gallons  of  milk 
oer  day  for  several  days,  until  we  sold  her  for  £20  without 
ler  calf.  We  milked  her  three  times  a  day,  as  she  had  a 
labit  of  milking  herself,  which  was  perhaps  the  reason  why 
she  was  sold  to  us.  For  national  economical  purposes  such 
a  cow  should  have  been  kept  for  breeding  at  the  public 
expense. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Of  work  during  the  past  week  there  is  little  to  record,  for 
little  has  been  done  except  ploughing  for  Wheat.  We  have  been 
trying  to  thresh,  but  the  north-easterly  drizzle  has  been  so  per¬ 
sistent  that  a  day’s  work  has  occupied  three  days,  and  the  sample 
is  hardly  in  saleable  condition.  Potatoes  are  waiting  to  be  picked 
up,  and  the  Irish  labourers  are  waiting  very  patiently  for  the 
chance  to  pick  them.  They  began  work  to-day,  but  both 
Potatoes  and  pickers  got  wet.  We  find  that  prices  for  picking 
vary  greatly.  Maerckers  and  Scotch  Dates  are  3s.  or  4s.  per  acre 
more  costly  than  the  others,  which  is  an  excellent  testimonial  to 
their  worth.  We  prefer  Scotch  seed  of  “Up-to-Date”  Potato. 
The  Professor  is  free  from  disease,  but  is  not  good  enough  in 
quality,  '  M 
Notwithstanding  the  scarcity  of  labour,  the  spinning  Potato 
digger  finds  little  favour.  There  is  a  strong  idea  fostered  by 
Potato  dealers  that  these  machines  greatly  damage  the  tubers. 
Well,  reapers  often  greatly  damage  the  corn,  but  nevertheless 
farmers  do  not  discard  their  use.  A  fanner  who  uses  a  digger 
with  fair  intelligence  will  never  again  wish  to  use  a  plough ;  but 
to  make  a  digger  a  success  there  must  be  no  ridges  thirty  or  more 
inches  in  width. 
The  corn  market  reports  make  sad  reading.  We  were  pre¬ 
pared  for  lower  prices,  but  not  for  the  absolute  panic  caused  by 
the  glut  of  ill-conditioned  samples.  The  wet  weather  may  do 
good  in  delaying  threshing,  and  so  keeping  the  market  compara¬ 
tively  empty.  The  threshing  machine  shows  that-  a  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  this  season’s  corn  was  badly  got,  and  farmers  who  must 
thresh,  should  choose  their  driest  stacks  to  begin  with.  Barley 
is  also  coming  out  in  very  poor  condition,  as  vTell  as  variable  ini 
quality.  It  is  most  necessary  that  Barley  should  be  shot  into  a 
heap  in  the  granary.  The  heap  should  be  well  turned  and 
dressed  before  a  sample  is  taken,  so  that  the  bulk  and  sample 
may  correspond.  With  improvements  in  threshing  machines 
which  now  make  very  finished  samples,  there  is  a  tendency  to 
save  money  and  labour  by  weighing  sacks  directly  from  the 
machine,  but  though  the  latter  may  dress  well,  it  does  not  mix 
the  whole  into  equality.  That  must,  and  can  only  be  done  on 
the  granary  floor.  Factors  soon  know  perfectly  well  which  men 
sell  direct  from  the  machine,  and  which  shoot  their  grain  and 
make  a  proper  sample,  and  they  bid  accordingly. 
It  has  been  too  cold  and  wet  for  the  calves  to  remain  out,  and 
they  will  be  kept  up  altogether.  Feeding  cattle  are  barely  hold¬ 
ing  their  own  on  the  pastures,  though  they  are  consuming  heavily 
of  cotton  cake.  They  will  be  better  in  the  covered  yard  eating 
the  excellent  white  Turnips  which  we  can  provide  for  them.  The 
grass  they  leave  behind  will  be  useful  for  the  ewes  later  on. 
The  weather  having  interfered  with  other  work,  we  have  been 
able  to  clean  out  a  few  ditches  and  watercourses.  Though  there 
Is  little  to  show  for  this  work  at.  the  time,  it  is  still  most  ne&es- 
sary,  and  no  time  is  better  than  the  present  ,  for  with  the  approach 
of  winter  watercourses  wall  become  flushed,  and  far  more  difficult 
to  deal  with. 
