The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1909-08-27

It must not be supposed that breed of cattle
with SO many valuable qualities could forever
be retained upon SO small place as the island
of Jersey, for as travellers were constantly
visiting the island they could not fail to be
impressed by the large number of cattle kept
on SO small an area and also the kind of cattle.
About 1840 the first importation of Jerseys
was made into the United States, and since
that time SO liberal and judicious were the
investments made in pure bred stocks that the
United States possesses many herds that would
do credit to Jersey.
The typical Jersey COW seems to completely
fill the bill as a dairy COW, for the wide awake
American dairyman, and her many admirers
claim her to be the best dairy animal for the
economic production of butter of a rich color,
firm texture and fine flavor. She is especially
priced by the dairyman for the following
characteristics which I will briefly refer to.
In the first place she is small animal Some
people consider her size a serious objection,
nevertheless it is an argument in her favor.
People who have thought seriously upon this
subject and have put their thoughts into
action have found that it requires much more
food for an animal weighing twelve hundred
pounds than for an animal weighing nine
hundred pounds. If the amount of food which
was fed to the twelve hundred pound animal
produced proportional increase in the amount
of butter, the twelve hundred pound COW
would be more valuable, but as much of the
food has to go to maintain the extra three
hundred pounds of the larger animal, the total
returns from the nine hundred pound COW are
often larger than from the twelve hundred
pound cow (which has consumed more food.
In the second place the quantity of milk pro-
duced by the Jersey is often underestimate.
The Jerseys often do not give as much milk
when fresh as some other breed, but she is
very persistent mixer. From my own obser
walton, have seen cows in our own herd that
have not been dry for three years, and if we
had tried to turn them dry for several weeks
they would no doubt have suffered from con-
gested udder due to the stoppage of the large
flow of milk.
Another point in her favor is her long period
Of usefulness. She is ready for dairy work at
two years of age and if given good care is often
found still doing good work when twelve years
of age. In addition to her long usefulness and
great quantity of milk, her milk is excessively
rich in butter fat. Over one thousand recorded
tests have shown the enormous average Of
fourteen pounds of butter in seven days. This
butter has richness of color, firmness of
texture and mildness of flavor which has
given it wide spread and justly deserved
reputation.
In this short discussion of the Jersey COW
have referred to pure bred Jersey, not to a
grade Jersey, which seldom possesses all the
good qualities of the pure bred animal. If the
grade were as good as the pure bred and could
transmit her qualities to her offspring there
would be little use of taking so much pains to
breed pure bred stock except for show pur-
poses, but as the grade lacks the power of
heredity we breed the pure breds. The Jersey
then having all these qualifications for butter
production and having them fixed by long
continued pure breeding challenges CON-
petetion in this her special field. And as
civilization advances and people will not be
satisfied with anything but the best dairy COW,
there is no doubt that the Jersey will continue
to be queen of all the dairy breeds
Upon being called upon for com
ments the members generally ex
pressed themselves in commenda-