Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-23
The Family Cow.

lOcrr6sponOeuce bEe6OeI6 6azeU6.I
 very common notion obtains, outside of breeding circles that the cross bred COW is the best for family purposes. I have fre- quently heard the suggestion from those who have no special knowledge of the merits of the Jersey other than that based on her for mer reputation of being 8 small but rich milker, that 8 cross on the Short-horn or Ayrshire would give us 8 splendid family COW. Now is this idea sound? The family COW is needed for milk, cream and butter. Can we not find such an animal among the pure breeds without resorting to a cross2
 By common consent the Jersey is recog- nized as the butter breed but she is more than that. Under the fashioning of the American breeder she has been greatly i'm proved, both as butter yieIder and a milk giver. Years ago the Jersey was a very small milker, but breeding has developed large capacity in that direction so that I think well-bred Jersey will take no mean rank as a milker. find my two -year-old Jerseys, as they come in, are giving twelve to fifteen quarts daily. While I am not aiming at large milking capacity in butter animals, yet have no objections to have heifers of supe rior butter strains give a large milk yield, since I know the blood will tell in enriching the milk with growth of years. With COWS of such capacity for milk it would not seem necessary to cross with other breeds to estab- fish the model family COW. One habit is so marked as to be almost peculiar to the Jer- sey, and that is her disposition to carry her flow of milk for a long period. This is very important consideration in the COW for family use A large flow for two or three months and then rapid decline of yield Is very aggravating to the village housekeeper The great trouble have in breeding is in re- strainipg the How of milk at the proper timei preceding calving. Butterfly of Hill Top 15 635 has been milking more than twelve months; gives, when fresh, upward of eighteen quarts, and is now, within seven weeks of her next calving, giving ten quarts day. Telka, 8,037, in milk over nine months, gives seventeen to eighteen quarts when fresh and is now giving sixteen quarts a day. In fact, her udder gets full by midday, she should properly be milked three times day. Take even the ordinary Jersey of small yield, and she will probably give as much milk between two calvings as the ordinary COW of the country. What may be the object in crossing Q typical Jersey with some pure-bred animal of another breed I cannot imagine. In the cross, for instance of the Jer- sey with the Ayrshire, many think we in crease the flow and reduce the quality of the milk in the offspring. This may happen; but think experience will prove that this cross, presuming the Jersey a smaller nilker than the Ayrshire, will give you COW that will take after the more potent animal of the two.
 Rearing of grades, however, by the use Of thoroughbred bulls on native COWS, is to be commended. In such cases the thorough bred bull is almost certain to show the im- press of his superior blood. The farmer who does not feel justified in investing in thoroughbreds should never use anything but thoroughbred bulls. I speak advisedly on this subject, as I have seen the advantage of the farmers in my neighborhood using my Jersey bulls on ordinary COWS. In fact, the Jersey bull is coming into very gen. eral favor and use in butter dairies for cross- ing on common COWS. One of my neighbors has large milk dairy, supplying the city of Trenton with choice milk. He is what call strong feeder, but he insists it is necessary in order to produce good milk. He feeds daily four quarts of corn meal in summer and six quarts in winter, per head, besides an equal bulk of bran. His COWS he picks up mainly in the country as he can find them, although he is now breeding some. He is very partial to some Jersey grades he owns and inclines to increase his breeding of them.
 The milk from good Jersey grades is al- most as rich as that of the thoroughbred, and, with his grades highly fed, rather fear in the churning process it would undergo in carrying it by wagon over the pavement some butter globules would be developed, and it might not be quite so homogeneous or attractive to the eye. and so I have advised him to get Holstein bull. The Holsteins are large mixers, have big frames, and their grades, highly fed. ought to be large pro- ducers of good milk.