Imperial Valley press., 1912-10-03
CHOOSING A BREED
FOR THE DAIRY HERD

Cultivator: Visions of cows, black
white, fawn, brown, silver and red,
fit by as 1 try to answer this ques.
tion sent by our chief. Yes! Then,
too, with a letter from a man who
wishes one breed while his wife favors
Scissors and shears" Now, when |
think the matter over and over, put
ting il, IF / were just beginning which
breed wculd it be-" 1 do not know. l
nave no reason to think less of :he
, breed L am interested in. Another of
the heifers born on the ranch, Aralia
De kol, has just made a big record.
With the present knowledge of breeds
| have gathered 1 would be greatly
puzzled to decide this matter of
choice. 1t would turn on the circum-
stances of feed and general conditions
l tumbled into being a Holstein breed
er just as 1 tumbled into farming;
it was the only thing to do at the
time. 1 have been all my life doing
the thing next at hand with all my
might. l might claim foresight, but
it would not be the truth. Women
starting now in a business life have
the same opportunities as men; when
L began there was on the part of
every one the somewhat trying atti-
tude of "show me-"
Every breed of cows attracts me-
l can stand and gloat over their per-
fectionS at the fairs. Mrs. Glide'S beef
animals, whose skins seem so full that
not another pound of food could be
put under them; Mrs. Strader'S hand
some blacks; Mr.. Locke's dainty Jer-
seys; and then the longer lines of the
blacks and whites all look good enough
to make stock breeder happy. The
four breeds that the California dairy
man considers as here in numbers TO
warrant him in considering as the ones
to choose from are, in alphabetical
| order, Ayrshires, Guernseys, Holsteins
and Jerseys, leaving out brown Swiss,
Kerry and other choice animals not
| here in numbers enough to make them
a matter of consideration.
AyrShires are found in numbers at
/ the coast points, particularly around
! Santa Barbara. They are graceful.
| large sized animals. They have rathe
! shorter faces than some other breeds
and long, slender, outstanding horns
! They are very vigorous and more ac-
| tive than their size would indicate
| They come into full milk flow very
! early and usually do not gain after
! the second calf in either milk flow
! or butter percentage. The Ayrshres
| come from Scotland and are found in
larger numbers in Canada than in the
/ United States. They are recommended ed
I as easy keepers, though this is not fl e
ured on so much in modern dairying
as it was a few years ago We know
that the cost of milking, housing and
! iced must be met, and if by using a
| little more feed we can push produc-
| ton ii is more profitable than to see
! how little an animal can do with and
| yet live. In the older days Dad, Ruh
and little Sis did the milking, no wages
were paid out to mixers, and if the
| cows Were not heavily fed the only
| loss was in their own unvaIued time
Now we feed and push the cows ia
/ the speed limit of production to hold
| place in the game The Ayrshires
can climb like cats over hills and daIes
| On the steep hills and canyon sides
| they VIII hnd the grass blades with
| out regard to the roughness of the
! trails. They are thrifty on rough feed
| ana VIII stand exposure without suf-
| fering like the more delicate breeds
| This is not to say. please understand.
that they will not do better on more
abundant feed and with shelter from
rough weather.
The Ayrshires have not been tested
| long as butter makers, yet they are
| doing well. Netherhall Brownie TX
! produced under ordinary care in one
year S2O.9l pounds of butter fat. This
when figured on 50 per cent basis puts
| her into the 1000-pound class Fig
| ured on the commercial basis of IS 7
| OF butter she made 95S pounds The
! amount of milk given during this test
| was 1910 pounds, with a percentage
| of 4.53 of fat. One herd of Ayrshirns
| that was tested produced from 10 600
| TO $4,000 pounds to each COW during
the IL months. The average of the
| butter fat in this herd was lust :.
| shade under 4 per cent. This test of
| per cent is said to be about as
| nigh as any that could be expected
from cows true to the type The tvpe
| of breed is fixed and it is a fool
| lsh waste to try to make a Holstein
| or Ayrshire give per cent milk or
a Jer9ey or Guernsey give a large
| quantity in day. The Ayrshires have
| not been pushed for records to anv
| great extent; if a breeder wished to
| establish himself at the head Of the
| breed in this state he could readily do
so with Ayrshire cows
The Guernseys are great beauties
and they are constantly increasing in
numbers on this coast. They give :,
! nigh cOlored milk that for some mar
kets has been too rich in its golden
| nue.; the consumers have thought if
was colored with dye. The higher col.
/ oring will aid the butter maker in the
/ creameries. The standard of colorine
Is now being sent out to these men
| In hopes of making the butter of more
| UNIFORM coloring. 1t has been some
| what difficult to secure in the San
| francisco market a carload of butter
| uniform enough in color to look well
| tor export shipment. Do you realize
| that we will soon come to sendin o
| away butter in quantities from this
state?
Ihe Guernsey is a larger COW than
/ the Jersey and reverses the nose col
orlng. A Guernsey has a pink nose.
| or perhaps a flesh color is the better
term. The Jerseys nose is black with
mealy ring around of light colored
hair There are four Guernsey cows
with records of more than 1000 pounds
of butter in a year, figuring on the
commercial basis of S5.7 pounds of
butter fat to the 100 pounds of but
ter. These cows produced from S57
TO 9S5 pounds of butter fat in one
year. Dotty Dimple has made 1000
pounds of butter year for two years.
Dairymaid of Pinehurst has a three
year-old record of $50 pounds of but
ter fat and as a four-year-old has
rsplendid record of 80. Spotwood
Daisy Pearl made 957 pounds of but l.
ter fat when seven years old. Yeksa
sunbeam made 905 when nine wears
old. The records show that the Guern-
sey cows are good continuous butter