The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1888-05-12
CHOICE OF CATTLE, HoLsTEIN VS.
JERSEYS.
SOME PRINCIPLES OF DAIRY FARMING.
5. +. NlvIx.


SOME PRINCIPLES OF DAIRY FARMING.
Put pleasantly aside, by what right
docs any one assume that the Fresian is
not IL butter COW, when for ages almost
the sole business Of the Frieslander has
been tue production of butter, and that,
too, the best in the world? In the great
LONDON market Friesian butter is quoted
far above Jesrsey, and at the late dairy
fair in Chicago Tritomia's butter (pure
Fliesan) scored highest in the whole
show, the Jersey butter being nowhere.
One Of the chief merits formerly claim
ed for Jersey butter was that it stood up
WE'LL WAS harder than other butter, but
men have grown wiser and we hear
little of this now, in fact, an excess of tai
low does not improve butter, whether
the mixing be done by COW or the mar
gerine man. Fresian butter will hold its
own wherever known and has nothing to
fear from any rival.
Leaving the consideration of the won
drriul way Il Fresian calf will turn milk
into veal for Il future paper, let us look
II little into the matter of beef from the
dairy standpoint. Any good COW, Fresian
or Jersey whose power ofdigestion and
assimilation are such that she excells in
the dairy, will, if from any cause the
outlet through the udder be cut off, use
these same powers to rapidly put on
flesh. DAirymen understand this so well
that very few of them ever make spe-
cial business 70 fattening Il COW, as all
that is necessary is to keep up full feed
as the milking season draws to a close.
and when milking no longer pays quick
ly force the COW dry and sell her.
The argument that IL man, to be spe-
ciiic dairyman, must milk COW till she
dies of old age and then bury her may
be very good theory, but it is certain
ly very bad practice.
For if she must be repaired sometime
prudence would suggest that she be sold
while the prices she will pay for rearing
her successor.
Against, Il COW is her prime when
from six to eight years old, and after
that declines in dairy value; and the
question forcibly presents ITSELF whether
it is better for man who can keep but
so many castle to go on milking the old
COW and killing her calves, or having
raised one Of her heifers to take her
place, kill the old COW. Certainly if the
COW has been properly bred her heifers
will be as good or better than herself
and if she will sell for enough to balance
the cost of rearing one of them, the
dairyman is nothing out, whereas if the
old COW past her prime he will lose
every year and finally be out of pocket
the cost of her successor. The Friesland-
ers understand that matter thoroughly
and there are no old COWS in Friesland.
The special beef raisers themselves
now acknowledge that land is too high |
and the day passed when COW could be
kept merely to raise a calf, and say that
from now on the COW must pay her own
way, leavihgt the calf as profit. We all
know that the dairy COW will not only |
pay her own way but leave a good profit,
not considering the calf at ALL
Let us suppose that the heifer calves
are wanted anything? In pork, mutton
and beef, the demand is for more lean
and less fat, tallow being at discount.
And such beef the larger Gurnsey and
Ayrshire, and especially the Friesan
steer will furnish. have heard of Jersey
steers, and that what beef there was was
of extra fine flavor but the general OBJ
lection to the Jersey breed applies with
double force to the steer. namely: That
the preed as a breed has deem stunted by
confinement to small island and abnor-
mally developed; that is lacking in bone
and sinew and general muscular devel-
opment, hence is not hardy and is es-
pecially subject to abortion and lung
disease. The Friesan steer is the oppsite
of the Jersey large hardy an dwell devel-
oped, and with great digestive and assim-
ulative powers, making him very ecom-
omical of food in beef production. These
powers he gets from his ancestory by
law of heredity, and as the breed is a
dairy breed, the same power that makes
his sister, the heifer, the best of dairy
COWS makes him, the steer he has no
vent for his energies in milk production,
a profitable beef. Thus we can readily
understand why the Friesian steer goes
to the front in feeding trials even among
the sbecal beef breeds, and why the
Friesian men are willing to back him
against any breed
At the glucose works at Iowa City, us
am informed by Sec Wales, there were
a year ago, $500 steers of all breeds fed,
and among them seven grade Friesians.
These seven were treated exactly like
the rest, yet the managers informed Sec.
Wales that the result in their case was
above the average
In trial at Ill. Ag. COL, Friesian
stood first, and lately at Mich. Ag. Col.
not only did one Friesian steer make
greater gain than other breed, but also
his mate made the greatest gain for the
food consumed; and this, too, over the
beef breeds, while the Jersey, as usual,
brought up the rear.
In regard to the question of size in
dairy cattle, on which so much stress is
laid by breeders of small cattle, 1 will
refer the reader to Stewards Feeding