The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-06-06
THE cow.
'rize Essay, by Henry S. RedfeId.

The recent wonderful performance
of Signals Lily Flagg 31O35 has at
tracted marked attention, and such
attention is deserved by any cow of
any breed that under any conditions
and under any system of care andfeed
ing a produce over n thousand
pounds of butter in a year. The test
is a tribute to the judgment of the
owners of the cow and the skill of her
manager during the test, a tribute to
the COW, and a tribute to the Jersey
breed.
But if any farmer comes with the
inquiries, What is the best COW to put
into my dairy9 what COW will give the
most butter at the least costa what
COW, in short, will prove the most
proftable2 I cannot hope to convince
him that the Jersey is the cow he IS
looking for by citing to him this test
of Signals Lily Flagg, wonderful as 1t
is, nor to any other of the yearly tests
which in recent years have been made
upon the high pressure" system. The
method of feeding, caring for and
handling the COW is too different
from his own to make these tests of
value to him.
We are not, however, without facts
which will prove to a careful and can
did investigator that the Jersey is the
COW for every farmer who looks to his
dairy for any portion of his income.
There have been published, by men
whose word would not be doubted IN
any transaction, yearly averages Of
entire herds Of Jerseys that SO far sur
pass the average yield of diaries IS to
leave little doubt as to the superior
merit of the breed. But the objection
is sometimes urged that these reports
also have come from breeders who
have better accommodations for keep
ing stock than the farmer, who hire
expensive labor, and a great deal of it;
and that, under conditions such as pre-
vail among intelligent, hard working
farmers who manage their w herds,
the Jersey will not make such a show
ing. If based On facts, the objection
is valid; but it is not so based, and
knowing this, and knowing also some
farmers who manage their diaries
solely for profit, who work with their
own hands, who are breeders only as
every farmer who raises calves Is a
breeder, who have no fancy accommo-
dations for their COWS, and who have
settled upon Jerseys and stick to them
because of their incompatible dairy
qualities, I wrote to three of them ask
ing the number of COWS in milk in 1891,
and the average yield of butter per
cow.
One writes: The number of COWS
MIXED in 81 was ten the averageyjeld
of butter was 285 pounds per COW. For
the year 1890, twelve COWS MIXED
average yield, 297 pounds"
The report from another is: Il
milked seventy COWS last year, and the
average yield of butter per COW was
$50 pounds" And the third, under
date Of August goth, says: II am IN
able to give the number of COWS MIXED
last year, as we culled out some that
were MIXED part of the year and sold.
We have for four or five years previous
to last year MIXED from twenty-five
to thirty-two COWS, and the average
yield per COW has been about three
hundred pounds. That means the
sales; no account is ever kept Of the
butter used at home. Our sales last
year were s 1857 pounds, from what we
thought would be equal to twenty
seven COWS the whole year. The best
average yield per COW per year we were
eve able to get before we kept Jerseys
was one hundred and seventy~fve
pounds, and that only once, often fall
ing below one hundred and fifty pounds
per COW per year,
To show further the value of these
reports az proof of the merit of the
jersey, it need only be added that the
FIST herd is in Yates county, New York,
in a fine farming district; the second
in Chemung county, New York, on a
farm which is chiefly a hill farm,
though having some fine river fiat and
the third on a d~istInctively hill farm,
situated in Bradford county, Pennsyl-
vania.
venture the assertion that no man
in any locality who once gives the Jer-
seys a fair trial can be induced to re
place them by ony other breed for but,
reproduction. They have won on
their merits in the three herds above
mentioned, and he would be a rash
nan who should seek to persuade the
owners Of those herds to make any