Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-11-29
Improved Dairy Stock.

The following is from the Mark Lane En-
press, and is probably an illustration of the
way dairy stock is improved in England.
With us little attention is paid by dairymen
to the improvement of their herds, on which
account the extract is Of more value to our
readers
Every succeeding year finds farmers in
creasing their dairy stock, laying out their
land so as best to suit its successful manage
ment, each year developing greater interest
on the subject of the best breeds Of cattle
and the most profitable modes of managing
them, than its predecessor With dairy stock
it wouldalmost appear as il there was no such
thing as standing still. Unless improvement
is aimed at constantly, by wedding out those
members Of the herd which are getting old
or which after sufficient trial are found TO be
inferior mixers, and by occasionally intro.
ducing fresh, and, if possible, superior blood
through the agency Of the sire, there is great
danger Of retrogression. IL is neither pro.
6table nor creditahle to a farmer to have his
stock decreasing in stamina, in lower condi-
ton, and the receipts from their produce less
than during previous years, and yet unless
the interest in their welfare and improvement
is continually kept up, this is a contingency
that is almost sure to become a certainty
No bad mixer should have a permanent
place in herd which is kept not for show,
nor for breeding purposes solely, but princi-
paly for the disposal Of dairy produce To
keep such a COW is simply to lose money viii.
fully, her keep costing quite as much as the
best mixer in the stall, and the trouble she
occasions Just as much as that given by the
animal which gives double heramount Of pro.
duce. 1t may be difficult to have every one
iirst-rate, yet the herd may be so improved
by judicious selection as to have ali good
COWS. la a stock Of forty We shall suppose
that there are at present ten bad, or at all
events Indifferent, mixers. BY testing the
milk Of these cows carefully, and ascertain.
ing the amount Of produce in butter to be
under the average Of what might be fairly
expected from the care and keep expended
on each, there is nothing more easy than to
keep bull from them dry off at the end of
the season, stall feed, and get rid of them
without any further loss. To fill their places,
from twelve to twenty hciiers can be sent to
dairy, ample margin being thus left to afford
choice at the period of calving BY per-
sisting for few years ia this course the stock
will not only become first class mixers and
increase the profits of their owners but will
gain character and reputation in the dis
trict for their good qualities.
Much can be done in given time by hold.
ing over the offspring of those cows which
have proved themselves to be frst-cass milk
ers, breeding, fpossible, for all permanent
stock from those only, and thus getting into
strain Of mixers. 1t is Just as likely as
not that heifer, whose mother was an ex-
cellent mixer, may herself turn out to be
scarcely worthy Of house room; but when
she is the defendant of a celebrated line of
pail filters, the probabilities are altogether in
her favor that she will possess in a high de.
gree the good qualities Of her race.
In large herd there will, in spite of the
most careful scrutiny, be an occasionally bad
mixer. This no forethought can prevent,
and whatever loss may result, it must only
be accepted for the time being, and the re.
moval Of the animal causing it effected on
the first favorable opportunity. With re-
gard to the best breeds Of cattle for dairy
purposes, it may be taken as very safe rule,
that every districtof country possesses a breed
of cattle in every way suitable to its climate
and soil and that, with care, skill and CAPT.
tai combined, good specimens fit for general
purposes may be obtained without going far
from home. 1t is quite possible that cattle
of a particular breed, extensively purchased
and brought from great distances, may do very
badly and lead to much disappointment aud
loss before becoming acclimatised, and even
afterwards never doing so well as the ordin.
airy breeds to be found in the locality With
the bulls, it is quite different -they must
be got ofpure blood, without stain if pos
sible, whatever the trouble or whatever the
expense.