The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1877-07-04
Agricultural 9qsgfs,tst
w. s. SHIELDS. ED1ToR. u
Essay on Jersey Cattle.
tConclsadea frone az a,ossek.l
BY Campbell L. BROWN.

fered me, warranted to weigh 1850
pounds. My last breeding ball
weighed a fraction over 900 pounds.
These may fairly be taken to repre-
sent the extremes. have seen COWS
weighing 600 pounds to 100 pounds
when in milk. It is said that Jersey
beef is excellent in flavor. color and
texture. As to this cannot speak
from personal knowledge, and SO
far as the thoroughbreds are concern
ed, it is matter of very little i'm
portance, as not many Of them are
likely to go to the butchers until pri-
ces fall to tenth Of what they now
are.
7 viii not weary your patience
with a long list of performances of
various Jerseys at the pail. Yields
of sixteen to seventeen pounds Of
butter per week on feed, and of
thirteen to fourteen pounds on grass
alone, have been repeatedly claimed
for them, as well as the much better
and more characteristic performances
of yielding 400 to 500 per year. l
am not aware Of any well authenti-
Gated yield of milk in this country
in excess of twenty-three quarts per
day. 1t is by no means the case
that the largest yield OF milk and
butter go together in Jerseys more
than in other breeds of cattle. l
know of two tests, in one of which
the COW gave twenty-one quarts per
day, in the other nine quarts-yet
one gave only eleven pounds of but
ter, and the other ten and a quarter
pounds in a week. There is an i'm
preston that Jerseys are small milk
ers. Compared with the immense
Holsteins or Shorthorns and soithO1t
making allowance for size this is I'M
doubtedly true. But in proportion
to their size they are not small milk
ers, and in steady, even persistent
flow of milk from calying TO calving,
they are hardly. equaled-so that
many big COW, that when fresh
nearly doubles the best daily yield
of her little ''yelIoW-backed'' neigh
Dor, will come out behind when the
yearly aggregates are to be reckon
ed. Es
As a family cow believe the Jer-
seY to be unequaled, especially for
persons living in villages or The sub
urbs of large cities. Bred for gener-
ations to life of comparative mac
tion, she is excelIently suited to
confined quarters. OF small size
and slender frame, she requires less
food than larger dairy animal.
Intelligent, docile and attractive In
appearance, she is almost certain to
become the pet of the household and
an object of interest and affection.
But it is her even flow of rich milk
that constitutes her chief value for
this purpose.
In a trip last year to some of the
dairy regions of the North and East,
l found that Jersey grades had been
largely introduced into many of the
diaries. That the thoroughbreds
are as yet too costly to compete
successfully with native or grade
cows in the dairy business is evident.
But as far as can lnarn from practi-
cal dairymen the grades are excel
lently adapted to it, and are likely
always to find ready saIe-while
Jersey bulls are in demand among
those dairymen who rear their own
heifers.
From what has been stated as te
the climate of the Channel Islands,
we, should naturally conclude that
these cattle will prove we'll suited to
tie South. In point of fact they
seem TO stand heat better than cold.
The Jersey cattle club of Mobile,
Alabama, has considerable number,
and they have apparently thrived
finely in that extreme Southern latf-
tude Col. w. b. Montgomery, at
Starkyille, Mississippi, has a large
herd. 1 might mention, but for fear
of tWearyiDg you, as many as forty
or fity points in the States South of
US where Jerseys have been introduce
ed with results almost universally
satisfactory. In Tennessee they
are exceedingly thrifty, and, SO far
as my information and experience
60, are quite as healthy and prolific
us the natives. 1t is about ten years
since the first thoroughbreds we're
brought to the State. The earliest
importation Of which I have any
knowledge was made in May, 1867,
by the late Gen. r. S. Ewel, and
comprised a bull and two COWS.
Other parties soon made purchases,
and by 1870 there were probably
thirty-iv or forty head in the State.
There are now from 25o to 500.
Over one-third of these are owned in
the counties of Davidson and Maury.
The number of those interested in
Jersey breeding is rapidly increas-
ing, and / expect by 1887 the num-
her of these cattle in the State will
be well up in the thousands. 5cr
Oneeword of caution. z There are
three Jersey herd books-the herd
register Of the American jersey cat.
tie club, herd book published by
some poison in Massachusetts, and
that absurdity, a State herd book,
published in Maine: or these the
herd register of the club, edited by
the secretary under the supervision
Of the executive committee OF the
club, is the only one Of much author
ity. ! frequently see Jerseys adj
yertised for sale IS entered in "Jer-
sey herd book" If this means herd
register, it is all very well; if it does
not, the buyer may take it for gran
ted that they are not eligible TO
entry under the rules OF the club,
and have therefore been put into
the other book-Which, as said above,
is o private speculation. There are
probably ten thousand JerseEssi ia the
United States entered or entitled TO
entry in the register, and nearly as