The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1893-03-08
Points of the Jersey Cow.
PRIZE ESSAY, BY }. NJ. MEYER, NJ D., AN.

For more than two hundred years the
Jersey has existed as distinct race of
cattle. The leading uses Of the cattle
races may be stated thus: milk, cream,
butter, cheese, meat, tallow, hides, hair
and horn. II is natural that that animal
or class Of animals yielding the best of
results would attract the attention of an
observing world, and sooner or later be-
come notorious in some department of
uses. Such has been the demonstrated
fact in the instance of the Jerey cow
The dairy is leading feature in this cate
CORY Of uses, and she is pre-eminently
the dairy COW.
Her habitat is the jersey Island, de-
tendency Of Great Britain. Isolated as
it is from the busy world, it is, and has
been, admirably adapted to the develop
ment and purity Of the breed. By sue
cession of careful handlers through CEN
turtles she has made advanced develop
ments in Symmetrical beauty; in constitu-
tional stamina; in the in the softness of
skin; in the brilliancy of her eye; in the
docility Of her department; in the rich
ness Of her milk; in the gilt-edge color of
her butter, its peculiar aroma and its
blandness TO the most fastidious taste; in
the quantity Of her milk, and the dura-
ton of time she will continue to make a
profitable YIELD and in the firmness, sue
culence, digestibility and nutritiousness
Of her beef. With this array of excellen-
ces we claim she stands to-day without
a rival, the dairy COW of the world.
This model COW is not large. The aver
age weight of full-matured cow will not
be far from $50 pounds. With ordinary
care in handling, she will come to the
pail at two years of age; she will reach
her climax at about five years; she will
produce a calf every year until she is
fifteen years old; if properly handled she
will never. 60 dry during these years
of service, and then she will close her
career as the best animal in the butchers
stall.
She combines all colors. Possibly the
fawn color predominates; but color, like
form, is largely the result of series Of
fancy crossings, so that she may COM
mand any desired color.
Her form is symmetrical. She stands
on her four feet perfect beauty. She
has has small head, surmounted with
slender, crumpled horns; her face little
dished; nose small and neat; a mouth
and tongue ever ready to accept morsel
of food from her kind and generous own
er; pair Of eyes of great prominence and
sparkling with intelligence. Her ear is
well set, almost always exhaling an unc-
tuous golden secretion. Her throat latch
is small, clean-cut and neat. Her neck is
long, slender, graceful, gradually increas-
ing in its proportions until lost in full
orbed, well-developed body-wedge-
shaped, straight back, deep chested, thin
withers, short legs of the neatest build,
and large belly, well supplied with
large, tortuous milk-veins, which are so
many feeders to a a well-placed udder,
which nestles closely under the rear of
the body land when strut with milk
causes no little hindrance in the locomo-
ton of the hind legs, ending in four
well-placed teats about four inches in
length. Occasionally there may be one
rudimentary teat; very rarely there are
two, an unerring index to a superior ami
NAL. Her spinal column ends in long,
slender tail, with superbly bushy switch
trailing the earth. Under the tail, and
connected with the hind extremities, is
the escutcheon. 1t is the reverse growth
Of hair, large or small, of various forms,
OF which so much has been written, and
to which so much intrinsic merit was
once attached, but which has now been
relegated to the past; but other things
being equal, prefer first-class Flan-
drine escutcheon. These points, good
enough in themselves, do not constitute
a first-class dairy COW until you add athin,
soft, oily, golden colored skin.
Upon fair, disinterested tests Princess
I'd leads Jerseys in weeks yield of first
class butter of 40 lbs. ~! o.; Oxford Kate
follows with 80 lbs. IL or, and Mary
Anne of st. Lambert with 80 lbs. l2f o.;
and Signals Lilly Flagg leads the Jerseys
in years test Of l047 lbs. I OF. With
this array of points and figures we herald
her as the best cow the world has ever
produced; because, being Of small stature,
she will consume the least amount of
food, and produce the largest yield from
the amount consumed; because, while
naturally wild, by careful handling she
becomes the most docile of animals; be-
cause of the stamina Of her constitution,
whereby she is adapted to any locality
the world over; and because the products
of the dairy afford more real comforts in
the economy of this life than those from
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