The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-05-10
Somerset County Agricultural News

low milk production was not taken
into account. That exhibitors ae-
tually undertook 10 shape" these I'D
ders at the show was not less re-
This was done by taking
a board about q foetwide, and a few
feet long. placing iYunder the udder
lengthwise and fastening IL IS by
means of ropes 10 the cell the
stables and so holding up tt9 alder
and hattening the unGsr SIDE of 1t
until it was practically level with
the cows middle The shorter a
COWS teats were the. lander" and
altho not large animal the easier
it was to turn them in under this
board, and the whole effort was To
remove anything in the shape of O
pendulous form from the udder. A
COW really required to be low milk
producer to lend herself to this arti-
fetal means of producing a useless
udder on a COW that was supposed to
make some profit for her owner by
producing milk. But the Ayrshire
COW was too good 4 beat to be spoiled
even by a system as vicious as this.
When a hefer was successful In
n show of this kind, frequently the
chief anxiety was to keep her udder
in shape and so she was dried up
as quickly as possible, allowed to
run farrow for several months and
then drought out next year in good
form" The effect this kind of treat
ment would have on dairy cows is not
difficult to determine, and the result
of using bull bred from one of
these "show COWS" was not very like
ly to increase the future milk yield
of your breed and the whole vicious
system was to handicap the Ayrshire
breed in its race with other dairy
cows for popularity with the man who
MIXED cows as a business. How
ever, quite n few breeders always
kept up the fight for what was called
the Commercial Coo" they kept
breeding for usefulness and finally the
establishing of official milk records
for Scotland solved the problem, and
now every man who Is out to buy good
pure bred dairy cows, wants to know
at once what their milk records are,
and the London Dairy Show now re-
fuses to allow cows to be exhibited
that have not qualified in the milk
records and if the other shows would
follow suit it would be good thing
for all dairy breeds.
HERD SIRES AT HOBSLAND
The history of most high class herds
of cattle is built up around few
good herd sires, and Mr.. Barr's case
is no exception to the rule. 1t was
in the year 1888 that he first began
recording Ayrshires in the herd book
and couple Of years later he secured
a bull white Cockade" which hesused
for seventeen years In his herd with
remarkable success.
white Cockade was not only a
good broader, but was n show bull as
well, winning the Continental Cup at
Kilmarnock in 1893. 1t was only two
ago that the last daughter,
"Monkland Mary" of that great old
bull left the Barr herd at the age of
twenty-one years. 1t was his daugh-
tiers that made this bull illustrious
and many of them figured in Mr.. Bars
herd as his highest producers of milk,
his best breeders and his greatest
show yard winners. For the first
few years. the demand for young Ayr
shires was so keen and Mr.. Bars
calves, by white Cockade," so classy
and so uniform that he sold far too
many of them and so failed to build
up his herd of females as rapidly as
be should have. For three years In
succession every yearling produced on
the farm was exported to Sweden,
which looked like good business at
the time, but was not quite the best
policy to pursue, Mr.. Barr now thinks.
For several years the majority of the
prize winners at the kilmarpock show
were either by this great bull>or by
sons of his, many Of which found their
way to the head of neighboring herds.
Few bulls live as long as Cockade, and
in this his owner was particularly for
tunate as 1t enabled him to not only
market a great number of this bulls
progeny, but to build up his own herd
as we'll.
Having been so successful in the
beginning. Mr.. Barr followed the prac-
tice used by great number Of cattle
men, of line breeding, and his next
hull "Cock-a -zendie" was a grandson
of. "White Cockade." Never failing
to realize that show yards triumphs
are not only good advertising but that
they furnish Inspiration for greater
efforts. Mr.. Barr had begun exhibit
ing, but this was the first mature bull
that he showed, winning first at Ayr,
first at Mauchline, then a good show,
and second at the Highland Show.
This was more or less the beginning
of show yard career which can be
best appreciated by the fact that for
nine successive years. from 1905 to
1913, Mr.. Barr won first place in the
yearling heifer class at Kilmarnock
The premier event in the Ayrshire
breed
The next important bull used In
this herd was "Hobsland Masterpiece
He won the championship at the High
land show and was afterwards sold
10 r. r. Ness, of Warwick, Que, and
in his herd no swept the show-yards
If both Canada and the United States.
He was followed by son, "Hobsland
Perfect Piece" He was unbeaten In
Scotland as both, a yearling and a
.wo year old, winning championships
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