Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-12-06

Jerseys.
The following extracts are taken
from recent address before the Ten
nessee Stock Breeders Association by
Major Campbell Brown
Some years since very active con-
troversy ragged among Jersey breeders
on the question of color. This is no
place to enter into it's merits. The re-
suit has been, | think to weaken the
stress laid UPON the color of the hair,
and to direct attention to the really i'm
portant points of beauty of form, rich
ness of skin, and dairy quality; while
it has undoubtedly led to an increase
in the number Of solid-colored animals.
Solid color has become dead issue,
but not before everybody was pretty
tired of it and the subject quite ex-
hausted. A breeder who visited the
island as late as 1865, and imported
thence some excellent cattle, says:
The Jerseys are Of all shades of color,
from a pale, yellow fawn running
through all intermediate hues, even oc-
casionally to red, and intermixture of
black or gray, known as French gray
and that merging into black with an
amber colored band along the back, the
mnzzle invariably shaded with a lighter
color; and individuals are often seen
black and white, or pure black unre-
lieved by any other color To this list
of colors [ have only to add that the
red mentioned is more usually describ-
ed as salmon fawn' or reddish fawn,
and never becomes deep red and that
roam or q brindle is 5! inadmissible.
Il will not weary your patience with
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 re-
peatedly claimed for them, as well as
the much better and more characteris-
tic performances of yielding four hun
dred to five hundred per year. | am
not aware of any well authenticated
yield of milk in this country in excess
of twentythree 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. 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 butter,
and the other ten and a quarter pounds
in week There is an impression that
Jerseys are small mixers. Compared
with the immense Holsteins Or Short
horns, and without making allowance
for size this is undoubtedly true. But,
in proportion to their size, they are not
small mixers, and in steady, even, per-
sistent flow of milk from calving, they
are hardly equalled so that many big
COW that when fresh nearly doubles the
best daily yield of her little yellow
backed neighbor, will come out behind
when the yearly aggregates are to be
reckoned.
AS family COW l believe the Jer-
sey to be unequaled, especially for per-
sons living in villages or the suburbs of
large cities. Bred for generations to a
life Of comparative inaction, she is ex-
cellently suited to confined quarters.
Of small size and slender frame, she
requires less food than large dairy an
imal 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 trip last year to some of the
dairy regions of the North and East,
found that Jersey grades had been
10 rrol,, ;ntroI,ooJ into ,,on1, Of +bo do;
ries. 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 learn from practical dairymen, the
grades are excellently adapted to it. and
are likely always to find ready sale;
while Jersey bulls are in demand among
those dairymen who rear their own
heifers.
''From what has been stated as to the
climate of the Channel Islands, we
should naturally conclude that these
cattle will prove well suited to the
South. In point of fact, they seem to
stand heat better than cold The Jer-
sey Cattle Club of Mobile, Alabama,
has a considerable number, and they
apparently thrive finely in that extreme
southern latitude. Col. w. B. Mont
gomery, Starkville, Mississippi, has a
large herd. | might mention, but for
fear of wearying you, as many as forty
or fifty points in the States south Of us
where Jerseys have been introduced
with results almost universally salts
factory. In Tennessee they are exceed
ingly thrifty, and. so far as my infor-
nation and experience 60, are quite as
healthy and prolific as the native. 1t
is about ten years since the first thor
o 9 . were ; brought to the State !,
Zone word of caution. There are
three Jersey herd books-the Herd
Register of the American Jersey Cattle
Club, herd book published by some
person in Massachusetts, and that alb
surdity, State herd book, published in
Maine. OF these the Herd REGISTER of
the Club, edited by the secretary, I'M
der the supervision of the Executive
Committee Of the Club, is the only one
of much authority. | frequently see
Jerseys advertised for sale as entered
in Jersey herd book If this means
Herd Register, it is all very well; if it
does not, the buyer may take it for
granted that they are not eligible to en-
try under the rules of the Club, and
have therefore been put into the other
book which, as said above, is private
speculation There are probably ten
thousand Jerseys in the United States
entered or entitled to entry in the reg
istry and as many more claimed to be
pure-bred, but not entitled to entry
During the past FIVE years the price of
first-class cattle has nearly doubled,
while ordinary ones, or those of inferior
quality, have become cheaper. This
process will continue as correct ideas
of the true standard of value prevail,
and as breeding is systematized, until
certain families assume among Jerseys
the same pre-eminence now accorded to
the Dukes, the Princesses, the Rose of
Sharons, ETC., among Short-horns. To
the Jersey breeder who will courageous
ly and persistently aim at the highest
standard of excellence, and, discarding
II l !