Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1878-06-19
FhRM And FIREsIDE.
TAe Jersey cattle.

butter purposes, is certainly unsur-
passed. We shall not stop to go into
the history of these purely phenomenal
Jerseys which have occasionally pro-
duced extraordinary quantities both OF
milk and butter. Such cows are to be
found among all the bree Is, and even
also among the mongrcls and the scrubs.
The fair average Jersey COW yields, ac-
cording to our information, rather less
than three gallons Of milk daily, when
fresh, which quantity of milk produces
about one pound Of butter. Certainly
We have known many Jerseys which
greatly surpassed his yield, and we
have at the same time known many
others that fell greatly below it. We
think that 500 gallons of milk and 200
pounds Of butter in the year is about
the yield Of a good jersey; and We think
ft.thea that this implies gesd feed and
management, and that even then more
COWS Will fall below this standard than
will surpass it. As to the quslity of
the butter. it is superior to that of any
other COW and fetches a higher price on
the markets. The skim milk is blue
aud rather poor in quality, and is not
desirable either for family uss or feed
'sg) purposes. For grading purposes it
s.ascsrtained that the Jersey bulls are
cry prspotezt in thsir crosses and that
lie peculiar milking qualities are often
strongly DEVELOPED in the half-bred
ows as as IN the pure Jerseys, the
quantity Of milk being very often greater
i the grades than in the rurely-bred
;ow, while its quality is little. fiat all
,ferior for the production Of the first
Atty OF butter. In starting butter
Y. we think there can be ne doubt
~ .he best possible plan would be to
yin with selected native cows and
carefully selected Jersey bull, saving
le helfer calves ard gradually sub
stituting the best Of them for the old
cows. TIE COWS selected for this cross
should b rather above the medium but
not of lie largest size. They should
weld uore than an average quantity Of
milk. md il should be ascertained that
the pOportionate yield and quality Of
buttr are satisfactory; color and shape
vii be matters ofperlect indifference as
TO ield perhaps, yet there is certain
satisfaction in having the cows uniform
in style and appearance as well as in
yield. The bull should be purely bred.
ofgood size and masculine appearance;
fiji can be ascertained that his dam and
grand dam have been great performers
at The pail, that will be great point
gained. Ii lie proves Successful ill
the first cross, breed HIM to his own
daughters without any he stiatisn what
ever. No evil and much good will re-
suit from this step and if no evil is
observed, he may lie used fora third
cross IN the same manner. After that
it will be better to change the bull. II
the new bull fails in the first cross. get
rid OF him and weed oHt his get from the
herd. If he proves successful, hold on
to.him as long as possible. After you
have five pure-bred crosses, ysu may
send your best butter COW ts the best
pure Jersey hull Yovrean find until ysu
ceta bull-calf, and thereafter continue
this plan OF renewing the bull. This
plan will produce dairy of butter cows
OF frst-class excellence, cheaper than
they can be otherwise obtained. The
following are leading character
istics of the Jersey cow: The head is of
medium size, bat rather long; the muzzle
fine, tile eye bright, prominent, mild
and beautiful the hern small, neat,
crooked and Of fine texture, and tough,
waxy appearances; the ear thin and fine,
Of a bright rich orange color within; the
neck rather long and slim; high and
thin IN the shoulders and crsps, slim in
tbs fore-rbs, with big, dropping belly;
the chine thin and high, Though tie
animal is apt 10 be rather sway-kacked
and 10 rise msm the coupling Of the
hips and loiEs to the setting on Of the
tail; the hips are narrow and the TWIST
cut up high towards the chine; the
tbigLs being Fat thin anb flabby in APP
pearance; The legs below the knee joints
are neat, fine and small ths hooi
black, hard and neat, and finally, the
whole appearance is deer-like and not
unpleasing. though when examined.
pslnt by ps.nt, the beast seems to be as
Ill made and ugly as possibly can be the
clse. Accurate experiments in the
matter Of the relations OF quantity aRd
kind ef fsod to product in the dairy are
greatly wanting. five could have q
national Experiment Station they might
undertake a series of such investigations
with the best prospects Of success, and
the good accomplished would be vastly
in excess Of anything possible on the
present plan Of organization ofthe De-
parlment Of Agriculture. we do not
know anything Of the Jerseys as food
consumers. therefore, but there is q
general impression that they are large
feeders in proportion to the results in
marketable products. Our own con-
clusloa is, that they are large feeders
and that there is large share Of the
food used up in the formation Of the
waste products Of the system. Much Of
it rs, however, doubtless to be accounted
for in the extraordinary richness Of the