Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-09-20
Live StOck-Size and Quality

Has the size OF the animal anything to
do with the quality of the beef, beyond
the fact that one in good condition makes
better condition makes better beef than
one in poor? Does the size of COW
have anything to do with the quality OF
her milk? Does the size of the mess
necessarily have arything to do with its
quality? Does the COW that gives the
smallest mess always produce the richest
milk? Do the smallest Jerseys give the
richest milk? Does the Jersey that gives
the smallest mess give the richest milk!
If these questions can be answered in
the affirmative, then there is screw
loose somewhere in the reasoning of men,
who assume that large mess OF milk IS
IS a rule, inferior in quality, thereby i'm
plying that the small mess must be rich.
The fact is that size has nothing to do
with the matter, but selection ana breed
ing has. The small size of the Jersey is
an accident, to very great extent,
while the rich quality of her milk has
been secured by selection and line breed
ing, if not inbreeding for many genera
tions.
The Fresian COW is large, and she gives
c large mess of milk, because she has
been bred from time Immemorial with tae
end in view. Her mess however, is not
so much larger than the Jersey, when we
consider her size, and there does not ap-
pear TO be any reason in nature, Why her
mess OF milk, by careful selection and
breeding, may not be raised TO the quality
of the Jersey. If the latter gives 80
pounds of milk q day, from which 3
pounds of butter is made, why may not a
Cow twice her size give 60 pounds of milk
a day from which 6 pounds of butter can
be made, without any more tax on the
system IN the one case than in the
other?
Fat is an element in nature that is
easily obtained and the appropriation Of
it does not materially exhaust the soil.
Butter production does not as rapidly
impoverish the soil as cheese or beef pro-
duction does. But to secure the carbon
aceous element in the form Of butter fat,
we must induce q peculiar physiological
condition of the COW. Just what that
condition is, and just how to best secure
it, are two things to be found out. We
only know that by careful selecting and
breeding from COWS that have the physi-
illogical tendency to secrete butter fat,
we can not only transmit that tendency
to the offspring, but increase and intensi-
fly it. The subject is one worthy OF the
most careful attention OF scientists.
I, may be that we shall never be able
to tell why one family of bovine animals
is given to the secretion of butter fats,
and another puts fat around the kidneys
and among the muscles, any more than
we can tell why one seed produces white
corn and another yellow, or why one seed
produces wheat and another corn. We
cannot change the nature of either, so far
as we yet know, and perhaps we cannot
change the innate qualities Of the animal.
But we can depend upon the seed, being
true to its kind. and on this fact we can
base Our practice SO as to secure enough
of the kind that we want. Possibly we
can rear COWS of large size that will give
large yields of milk of superior quality,
the yield always being proportional to
the size, without cetriment to the consti-
tuition Of the animal. We may yet get
the Jersey quality into Friesian milk.
The idea is worth considering, and we
believe an effort in that direction is worth
making. The suggestion is made for
what it may be worth.