Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-03-21
Ayrshires-Dairy Interests.
BY F. H. MASON, OF ANDOYER.

BY = n. MASON, OF ANDOYER.
The dairy interest it Ashtabula county is
second to no other. The capital employed
| is, 1 think, greater than in all other voca.
tions combined. Therefore discussion up.
on a subject so important as the COW her.
self, cannot be other than interesting
That the success Of the dairymsn depends
largely upon the quality Of his cows, no one
will deny. And farther, few dairymen re-
| qulre very much instruction in regard to
| judging dairy COW, but how to obtain a
herd OF these COWS, combining the qualif-
cations so much desired, is a very much
| more complicated question. That we are
to breed them is, I think, generally con-
ceded; but how are we to avoid the annoy
ing disappointments of so many failures.
where we anticipate so much.
That the meat breeds have arrived at q
greater excellence in the line Of meat de-
Telopment than have the dairy breeds in
the capacity for yielding milk, IS evident.
Various causes have contributed 20 this re-
suit, the most important being a want Of
knowledge cf what we would desire in the
dairy bull. If We refer to the Short Horn,
the Hereford, or the Galloway, and other
meat breeds, we find in the male and the
female essentially the same type of ami
HioAs5 AAOuAACN OAAJ Dl SuCu uAucI5uCoS a.
pertain to sex. .-.a ..
How often do we see diaries Of fine milk
ing COWS possessing the forms that 20 with
the possession Of dairy qualities in a high
degree, headed by bull whose form is un.
mistakably Of meat breed. In the COW
the form is that of a wedge; in the bull
that of brick. Here is being used two
distinct forms, to effect one and the same
result. Consider the comparative ease
with which the grazier obtains bull for
his purpose, with the dairyman to realize
his ideal Of he has any, in his bull. A
maxim in breeding is that ''like begets
like" The grazier uses like in both male
and female and gets like. The dairyman
often uses the form in the female typical
Of the desired result, and form in the
male of widely different type and ex-
poets that each generation will get a uni
form progeny.
1t may not be out of place here to give
some Of the most essential points desired in
the dairy bull, which l copy from the
Dairy Cow, ;" by DR.. E. Lewis Sturtevant.
They should be in many respects those Of
the COW, but modified by sex. His head
should be short and broad, nose small, and
throat free from folds; horns good size at
the root; ears thin, and yellow inside;
neck not too short, but arched; the mus
cles strong and large; the shoulders should
be close to the body and thin; back broad;
hips not as broad as the COW, but the
broader the better, breadth Of hip being
more Of a female characteristic; this point
means more in slight variation in the
bull than in the COW; the body should be
well ribbed, deep and Of good length; es-
pecially deep in the flank. AhollOw space
behind the shoulder is extremely objection
able. The limbs should be short, fine, fat
and firm-jointed; the thighs should be thin
and fat, and so far apart as to give great
space between. He should transmit to his
female offspring the space for the lodgmen1t
of the udder, for this is the key to breed
ing for milk. he further says that ''the
dairy bull must be especially free from GER
- defects and blemishes, such as the
Spttoek and rounded ham, which IS
~, roundne 1t thigh. These