The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-05-28

breed Is not always most profitable. The
COW that received the first premium a,
the best Jersey at the United States
show, at Cincinnati, 1860, gave bal.
ancc of only Sl293 in her favor for O
year. The COW that had carried off the
first prize and one second at the United
States show, and first aud second at O
state show lin both cases with strong
competitionl came out behnd-did not
even pay her expenses. As rule nc
breed can probably produce so much but.
ter from given amount of weight per
COW as this, but the milk is deficient in
casein, and except III butter probably
poorer than any other. This defect in
the milk, with the want of hardness, and
a fair amount Of beef producing capacity
will prevent this race from becoming uni
yersaly adopted BY Vermont farmers
AYRsIlIREs.
Fortunately for Vermont farmers there
is a breed that will FL! their requirements,
perhaps not to so full an extent, on some
single qualifications as some of the breeds
named but of fair average qualifications
for all, With the hardness of the Dew
on, with good average but not large
size, with the ability 10 make beef at
least proftubly on poor as well as rich
lands, and well adapted Tor all purposes
on billy lands, and with more capacity
to furnish milk rich in all the valuable
constituents that sustain life, and make
cheese as well as butter dairying pro6ta-
BILE, why should not the Ayrshire be nam.
ed as "the breed Of cattle we should
raise y These are extraordinary claims,
and he who makes them should be able
to give reasons for tho faith that is in
him we think they are not wanting.
The first evidence offered will be their
increasing popularity. Compared with
the Devons, Ilcreiords or Shorthorns,
their introduction to this country is of a
very late date. The first mention | find
made Of them in a file of agricultural
papers is in 1881. j. p. Gushing i'm d.
ported in 1885. He was among the ear
Hest fiud in searching, notices of the
presence Of Attorneys, Shorthorns, Dew
ons, Herefords and Kerry COWS in this
country, at an early day in the present
century, and Of most or all Of them IN
the last century, but can find no mention
Of the Ayrshires until much later Pc
Rod. have no accurate knowledge of
the date of their first introduction into
this country, but the most of the impor-
tations have been made since 1910, and
there were certainly but few made be-
fore that time. As late as 1881 l find
writer in the Nec England Farmer,
in an essay on "Breeding for a Dairy
Stock saying, at is not too much to
say from experience here and in Eng
land that Of all the varieties Of cows de-
signated by the terms Shorthorns, Long
horns and Hornless, or by the names
more limited in their application, as Dew
on, Hereford, Holderness, Suffolk, Den.
ton, Blackwell, Attorneys, &c.,-no one
OF them has been found to give uniformly
or generally more or better milk than
any other. The evidence before the pub
lie, abroad and at home, is contradictory.
There have been individual instances of
extraordinary mixers among all, and l
may 60 so far as to say families of extra.
ordinary mixers among them all. The
truth really is that we have yet the work
to do to establish a pure milk breed"
&C., &c.
1t is not supposed that the writer Of
the above would have omitted the Ayr
shlres in the enumeration of the different
breeds, had they been before the public
at that time, or that he would have used
the language quoted had they been intro.
duced in sufficient numbers to attract at
tent.on, and 1t is now claimed that the
great reason Of their unprecented gain in
popularity is due to their ability to sup
ply just the want then expressed by the
writer quoted, when he says in the same
essay,
"The writer would ask, suppose a
young farmer at the present moment is
about to stock a milk farm and is willing
to pay the full value of good cows-good
we mean as JreederS-where shall he 90
for them in New England? Where shall
he be sure to find an established milk
breed that will not disappoint him ? He
will find improred breeds enough, but
who will venture to insure him that the
improvement will not be found to consist
as often in adaptation to the shambles as
to the dairy?"
SO surely and universally have the
Ayrshlres now established this reputation
that all are ready to answer that they are
the breed that was then longed and look
ed for, but at that time must have been
comparatively unknown. Their first in.
PRODUCTION into Vermont was | think, in
1910. | know that was the first year
they were ever in Addison County. J
They have already supplanted the Dew.
ons IN most sections of the state and
there is little doubt will soon become the
most numerous and best paying in all,
AT our fairs they are fast becoming q
leading feature of the cattle department
and often exceed in numbers any other
breed.
At the last show of the New York
State Agricultural Society at Albany
they were more numerous by one fourth
than any other breed, and outaumbered
both the Devons and Shorthorns, only
few years ago the two leading breeds
In the cold climate Of Canada they ar,
fast taking precedence Of the other races
They seem to have the same ability tC
Withstand extreme heat as well as cold
and they are therefore also becoming fay
orites at the south. Mr.. Fisher inform
me that he brought the first thorough
bred Ayrshire into Franklin County les.
than eighteen years ago, and now there
are over two thousand full bloods in tn,
country.
Many who have tried Shorthorns hav
tried and been better satisfied with Ayr
shires. DR.. Geo. b. Loring and William