Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1879-12-03
Relation of Weight to Pro.
duct In Dairy Stock.
PROF. z. W. STEWART.

PROF. z. W. STEWART.
Dairymen arc now beginning to in
quire anxiously as to the most PROF,
table dairy stock, aud they seem inter
ested in all the Incidental questions re-
lating 10 that subject. Among others
the effect of size upon the economy OF
IN TX production is now under discussion;
and each side seems to find solution
of this in accordance with its own
practice or predictions. The keeper
of Holsteins, ShOrt-horns, or their
. grades, believes the larger cows pro
duce The larger profit; but those who
delight IN the deer-like. little Jersey.
and the moderate-sized Ayrshire, are
tenacious in the opinion that the small
COW Yields the larger profit; that Is,
that the smaller COW yields more pro-
duce for gwen smount OF food. Tbs
view OF both sides, however, on this
subject appear to BIS mere matters OF
opinion, not being based upon COM
parstive experiments Of their own.
But this question has been pretty
well settled, in some Of its important
piases, by experiments IN Europe ;and
1t is little surprising that there is no
accurate experiment with any OF the
DAIRY breeds on record in this country
showing the relation Of food to product.
It is certainly dlscoursging that among
all our agricultural colleges, many OF
them located in dairying States, not
one has carried out an experiment TO
solve this question. A few dsys' feed
ing with The weight Of animal, amount
of food and product, noted, would be
of little use. The experiment needs to
b. carried on COR months, carefully
noting the weight Of the COW at the
commencement and at various periods,
the daily ration of food and product OF
milk, with chemical analyses Of the
milk at stated periods, aud the result
in butter and cheese. This, carried out
for n season. with at least ten eli each
breed, would furnish basis OF facts
upon which this question could be
solved; and ii is an economical problem
second TO no other relating 10 any
specially ofagriculture.
EUROPEAN EXPERIMENTS.
The relation Of weight Of animal to
food and product Of milk has received
considerable attention IN Germany and
France.
Baron Ockei Of Frankenlelde, ex
perimentel with Ayrshires and Hol'
landers. The average weight Of the
Ayrshires was sos pounds, and OF the
Hollauders. 1916 pounds. The expert
ments proved that the Ayrshi:es eat 8
$40 pounds ofhay TO every 100 pounds
live-welght, whilst the IIollanders con-
sumed . $40 pounds. The Hollanders
required l.G0th Of their overweight as
food ofsupport while 1t required l-5Oth
for the Ayrshires. He then tested tbs
principle on different sizes OF the same
b eed. He took four Holland cows.
the two heaviest of which weighed 2,ll5
pounds on June ID, and the lighter two
weighed 1857 pounds. He FED them in
two lOls-the heavier in one and the
lighter in the other. The experiment
lasted sixteen days, with the following
result:
Lucern Mix Mix for Lucern
eaten by given 100 lbs OF est-nby
the cows. by COWS. Lucern. loops.
live-veight.
He,yy cows. .492i $40 qts' 74Q' nSlbs
Lisht cows....3s59 240 10 100
Here heavier COWS OF the same breed,
with the same treatment, consumed
relatively less food than the lighter,
and. besides, yielded greater return
Of milk from II. In 1852 series OF ex-
periments was carried on at eleven diff
fsrent places in Saxoly, by order Of tie
Royal Agricultural Society, through
period of five years, the COWS selected
beiag some Of the best scrubs" to.
gsiher with Allganres, Oldenburgers
and Hollanders, the latter two being OF
the same breed. The results per year
were reported as follows, with com
mon feed and common care: