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THE I Q C
JERSEY, r..
ALDERNEY, AND GUERNSEY *'^'
COW:
THEIR HISTORY, NATURE AND MANAGEMENT.
SHOWING HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD COW; HOW TO FEED, TO
MANAGE, TO MILK, AND TO BREED TO THE MOST PROFIT.
EDITED, FROM THE WRITIN'CS OF
EDWARD P. P. FOWLER, GEO. E. WARING, Jr., CHARLES L. SHARPLESS,
PROF. JOHN GAMGEE, C. P. LE CORNU, COL. LE COUTEUR, PROF.
MAGNE, FR. GUENON, DR. TWADDELL, and Others,
By WILLIS R HAZARD,
Author of "How to Srlfxt Cows, or the Guenon System Explained," "On
BuriEK AND Buttek-making," "Annals of Philadelphia, " etc.; Vice-
President Pennsylvania State Dairymen's Association;
Guenon Commissioner of Pennsylvania; Presi-
dent of Chad's Ford Farmers' Club, etc.
TENTH EDITION.
ILLUSTRA TED.
PHILADELPHIA :
PORTER AND COATES.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
PORTER & COATES, '
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
xmx
Westcott & Thomson Sherman & Co.,
Stereotypcrs. P-rinters.
PREFATORY.
It has been wittily and wisely said, '' It Is a good thing
to live In the country," to which may more safely be
added, " It is a good thing to have a first-rate cow/'
Though it is rapidly being proved that cows of the
Jersey and Guernsey breeds rank as first-rate for rich-
ness of milk and cream, for quantity and high quality
of butter, for easy keeping qualities and for delicacy
of meat, there yet seemed a want of a work which
proves all these excellent qualities to be possessed by
these breeds, and, by bringing them more prominently
Into notice, to advance the Interests of the agricultural
community, particularly that portion of It residing In
the vicinity of large cities and towns ; though by the
constantly Increasing advantages offered by most of
the railways distant portions of the country are brought
more nearly and advantageously together.
In the accompanying pages the editor — for he claims
nothing more than bringing together Important facts
about these breeds — has endeavored to present the
4 PRE FA TOR K
history and management of the Jersey and Guernsey
cow in their native lands, together with such short rules
for their manao^ement in their new home as will tend to
make these superior breeds better known and more
profitable wherever introduced. With this view he has
unhesitatingly made use of material by some of the
best of our agricultural writers, but has endeavored in
most instances to give credit to the source from whence
it was derived. He believes he has thus brought
together in a condensed form a mass of valuable
material which will be useful to the professed breeder,
the amateur farmer or the practical dairyman ; and
fairly presented the merits of the best breed of cows
for the butter- and cheese-maker, for the lover of rich
cream and milk, and for the admirer of the beautiful in
nature.
WILLIS P. HAZARD.
Maple Knoll, near Westchester,
May, 1872.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
PAGE
The History and Home of the Jersey Cow — Remarks on its
Characteristics and Management 7
CHAPTER H.
How to Choose a Good Cow — The Mirror or Escutcheon —
The Scale of Points 58
CHAPTER HI.
How TO Feed a Cow 104
CHAPTER IV.
The Management of the Cow no
CHAPTER V.
The Art of Milking iitj
CHAPTER VI.
The Dairy and its Management — Butter-making 125
CHAPTER VII.
The Bull ; and on Calving — Diseases of Cows 139
5
THE
JERSEY,
Alderney and Guernsey Cow.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
The general preference which has been shown of
late years for the cows of Jersey and Guernsey, as pro-
ducing a higher quality of milk for dairy purposes than
other species, has induced the author, as well from
his own conviction of its necessity as from the sugges-
tions of friends and customers who have felt the want
of such a treatise, to place the following epitome of his
knowledge and experience before the public.
Until very recently an impression has much prevailed
that the cow of the Channel Islands was unfitted, by its
apparently delicate appearance and blood-like breeding,
for the use of such persons as were unable to bestow
on it the most assiduous attention and care ; but
experience and a more intimate acquaintance with the
animal have shown that this impression is entirely with-
out foundation, and we now constantly see the Jersey
7
8 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
Cow thrivinor under circumstances that would be fittine
for any other cow kept for the same purpose — viz.,
milkinof and breedinof.
The Channel Islands Cow will be found invaluable
for private family use, from its docility, easy pasturage
and small consumption, in comparison with the peculiar
richness of its milk, the average in a dairy of forty
cows, under such management as is hereafter set forth,
having been ten pounds of butter from each cow per
week ; whereas in other dairies not more than from six
to seven pounds is producible from the ordinary milch
cow — where alone quantity of milk has been desired^ —
which is not the main object in a private family.
We have, therefore, in the animal under consideration
the triple advantage, as before stated, of a symmetry
of form which renders it an ornament to the gentleman's
lawn and paddock ; a docility which makes it quiet un-
der the tether and in the hands of the milker, whether
male or female ; and a richness of production which not
only fills the dairy with butter, but that of a firmness
which it retains in the heat of the summer and a rich-
ness through the cold of winter, when the butter of the
ordinary cow is barely marketable.
The prejudice against the Jersey which has existed
amongst dairy farmers, whose object is only profit, by
whatever legitimate means obtainable, is also now fast
wearing away, there being scarcely one such in England
who does not have a certain proportion of these cattle
among his stock ; experience having proved that the
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 9
'introduction of the Jersey or Guernsey (especially the
latter), in the proportion of one to six other cows,
has so improved the character of the dairy, that from
one penny to twopence per pound in advance is ob-
tained in any market, besides the pi^estige which the
best commodity will always command.
The pre-eminent utility of the Jersey Cow as a
cross in breeding with the long-horn is universally
allowed where the dairy is the object. For this pur-
pose the Jersey is superior to the Guernsey, although
the milk of the Guernsey is preferable to the Jersey for
mixing in the dairy. The reasons which indicate the
cross above mentioned are, on the part of the long-
horn, its large quantity of milk, strength of constitu-
tion, longevity and indisposition to fatten in the breed-
ing state ; and on the part of the Jersey, its rich quality
of milk, fine breeding and kind and quiet disposition.
The cow needed for the dairy cannot, under any cir-
cumstances, be selected for those qualities which will
produce fat ; the two natures are incompatible ; to have
the best meat, we must get rid of every tendency to
milk ; and to have the best butter, we must obviate
every disposition to fatten. We cannot have both
qualities In the same animal, and the attempt will only
end in disappointment
The results, then, of the above remarks are these :
that in the first place the Jersey Cow is, above, all
others, especially the cow for the gentleman's lawn and
paddock, and the only means by which the dairy farmer
2
10 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
may revert to the peculiar and important principle, so
long lost sight of, which places breed beyond bulk, and
was contemplated in the old adage that says —
" The cow to breed,
The ox to feed."
We shall now give, from the best authorities, sketches
of
THE HISTORY AND HOME OF THE JERSEY COW. '
In "Appleton's Journal" for January i, 1870, is the
following interesting description of
The Channel Islands. — '' In a deep bay of the north-
west coast of France, opposite to the centre of the
south coast of England, lies a cluster of rocky islets,
but little visited by the outlying world, and but lately
brought to the cognizance of the great brotherhood of
literature by becoming the retreat whence the indignant
soul of Victor Hugo has poured forth its warnings and
its thunders.
"They are Interesting from their peculiar position,
geographically, historically and artistically ; and, from
the fact of the principal one of them having given a
name to the city and State which bids fair to rival the
maritime metropolis of the United States, they deserve
more than a passing notice.
''Only four of them are inhabited : Sark, by one family
and their dependents ; Alderney, by the Government
officers of the Harbor of Refuge and a few fishermen ;
Guernsey, by a thriving seafaring population ; and
Jersey, by one of the most complete colonies of small
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. II
gentility possible to conceive. All these have preserved
to this day their ancient forms through all the political
disturbances of eisfht centuries. When the Norman
mail-clad warriors debated at Rouen the question of
their invasion of Saxon England, many of the lords of
feudal territories in the Channel Islands were in the
conclave, just as some of their grandsons took part in
the other ereat march eastward of those fearless buc-
caneers under Godfrey of Bouillon, whose castle still
looks over the narrow strait of seven miles of stormy
sea dividing Coutances and Jersey. Channel-Islanders
fought with Roger in the conquest of Sicily, and routed
Alexis, the Emperor of Constantinople, on the shore of
Butrinto. This story is ludicrously particularized by
the Emperor's daughter, Anna Comnena, the historian
of her times. The expedition, which sailed from Sicily
for the conquest of the Eastern world, met with misfor-
tune from its outset. Storms and tempests, hunger and
finally disease had thinned their ranks and broken their
pride, so that the Byzantine army found their tents ten-
anted by only five hundred knights, attenuated by short
commons and prostrated by fever —
' Their gesture sad,
Investing lank, lean cheeks and war-worn coats,
Presenteth them unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghosts' —
as the genius of Shakspeare portrayed the famished
host of Plantagenet Henry's ragged array at Agincourt.
No wonder that the rich and overfed Orientals treated
12 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
them as the Constable of France did the famished
Englishmen — offered them ransom, 'that their souls
might make a peaceful retire from off the fields where,
wretches, their poor bodies must lie and fester.' But
such terms did not suit the Norman mind. They
donned their rusty armor, and gave the Emperor so
hearty a lesson that his daughter chronicles that he
never stopped in his headlong retreat till he reached
the gates of the Hellespont. He never tried them
again.
** Of course, during the reign of the first five kings,
Normandy was part of the English realm ; but when
King John was defeated by Philip Augustus, and the
French wrested -it from his sceptre, the Channel Islands
had to make their choice of nationality, and they fol-
lowed their crown. Since that day there has never
been war between the two nations but a descent has
been made and successfully resisted, but not one sun's
settinor has witnessed the French fiaof on their shores,
though many a bloody day has been fought out between
the stout islanders and their near neighbors. The
inventory of the families and their lands of King John's
day is still extant. The heraldic records, and many of
the deeds of knights' service and other feudal tenures
of possession, still remain in the Herald's College of
Rouen, the capital of the ancient duchy to which they
then belonged. The law-courts, the petty jurisdictions,
even the terms, are all Norman French, as is all the
language of agricultural labor, to this day. Hence,
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1 3
during the long troubles of the Huguenot persecution,
the Channel Islands became the retreat of the routed
Protestants, who found a ready asylum, identical in lan-
guage as in faith ; and in later times, Royalists and
Republicans, Orleanists and Reds, have hailed the snug
haven of St. Helier's of Jersey as the paradise of exile,
from which their longing eyes can see the fair shores
of France — ' for ever distant, yet for ever near.'
*' No taxes or imposts have ever been laid upon these
fortunate lands. No custom-house officials here prey
upon the friendless stranger. Their southern climate
and sea-girt situation ensure them a mild and genial
atmosphere even in the depth of winter ; and, where
the formation of the ground affords a shelter, the vege-
tation, watered by a thousand rills, attains an almost
tropical verdure. Their neighboring coasts and shoals
afford a boundless supply of fish;, the celebrated
Rochers de Cancale yield the most noted and delicious
oysters of the European gourmand, ignorant of the
superior dainty of the Shrewsbury and Saddlerock ;
while their unrivaled breed of cattle gives them an
opportunity of a market in every agricultural country
on the face of the elobe. The islanders have not been
slow to avail themselves of these advantages. Their
soil is so fertile that the cows only require the circuit
of their tether for food in the rich pasture, and the sea-
sons are never severe enough to require their house-
shelter. Their apples and pears are renowned in the
fruit-culture, and their wonderful crops of potatoes find
14 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
a ready market, without any dues, in England ; while
they draw all their daily supplies from France, the
markets beinof crowded from Coutances or Granville,
ports on the other side of the narrow strait, or from
St. Malo, only four hours' daily steam-transport from
St. Helier's. Colleges and schools being plentiful, ex-
cellent and far cheaper than in England, have attracted
families, to whom the inexpensiveness as well as abun-
dance of household supplies has been a temptation, to
this almost suburban retreat from England. Their quar-
ries pave the streets of London ; their pilots navigate
the royal and mercantile fleets. Timber being imported
free of all duty, shipbuilders' yards line St. Helier's
Bay. There is almost daily steam communication both
with London and Paris, and crowds of excursionists
come gladly to be fleeced by the inn and lodging-house
keepers. No wonder the islands flourish and their val-
leys laugh and sing ! Not even religious controversy —
that direst bane of civilized communities — has as vet
disturbed ' the even tenor of their way.' The popula-
tion, having been uniformly Puritan or Huguenot, has
resisted all contact with Romanism effectually, and the
Pope only reckons subjects among the foreign and alien
residents of the Channel Islands. One of the two ser-
vices in the churches is invariably conducted in the
French language, which is spoken with remarkable
purity by the higher circles. Hence a Jersey pastor, the
son of a poor miller, who rose by his talents to be vice-
chancellor of the University of Oxford, and died, two
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1$
years ago, bishop of Peterborough, was selected, in
1861, to preach In the Abbey of Westminster to the
euests of Enorland at the Great Exhibition of all na-
tlons, and astonished the educated foreigners by the
grace and purity of his French Idiom. The whole
expenses of government are defrayed by the English
crown, which maintains military governors, garrisons
the forts and pays the militia, recruited on the Prussian
model — every male adult being compelled to serve a
definite period In drill, and being liable to service In the
narrow circle of his home In case of war. Under these
circumstances, military life is made a pleasure ; and, the
rifles and ammunition being always at hand, the hardy
fishermen and oyster-dredgers, rocking on a calm sea,
amuse themselves In their leisure by friendly emulation
in shooting-matches at birds and rocks, and the frequent
encounters between parishes and regiments on shore
for small prizes at the fairs and revels, which still keep
up the memory of the old Norman festivals, give ample
opportunities of testing their skill. It Is not an uncom-
mon thing for one out of the four regiments of Jersey
militia to boast of one hundred men of their rank and
file who can be backed to hit the bull's-eye at five hun-
dred yards.
"Upon all considerations, therefore, the Channel
Islands have a fair claim to be thought to have suc-
ceeded to those fortunate islands of the West whose
existence had puzzled the brains of the learned before
the hopes they gave rise to culminated In the discovery
1 6 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
of the Western Hemisphere by Columbus. Though
lying out of the great track of travel, they are yet in
the very centre of trade and civilization. Untrammelled
by legislation or custom-houses, they have free scope
for the development of their rich natural resources.
Too small to invite political demagogism, and too insig-
nificant for priestly domination, they flourish in even,
happy contentment, in the enjoyment of a climate, a
soil and a society completely free from the disturbances
which afflict and often destroy larger and more cele-
brated but not so free and favored communities."
In the "Journal" of the Ro3'al Agricultural Society
of England for 1859, vol, xx., is an essay by C. P. Le
Cornu, from which we make extracts on
The Agriculture of the Islands of Jersey, Guern-
sey, Alderney and Sark. — "Jersey, the largest and
most easterly of the group, lies in latitude 49° N.,
longitude 2° 22' W., being at a distance of eighteen to
twenty miles from the nearest coast of France. In form
it is that of an irregular parallelogram, eleven miles
lonof and five and a half miles wide. The surface of
the island is intersected by a continuation of valleys,
which. In general, run from north to south, gradually
increasing In depth and width as they approach the
south, until they In many places unite and form small
but fertile plains. On the northern side, the coast rises
abruptly above the level of the sea to a height ranging
from two hundred and fifty to four hundred feet,
whereas on its southern side It Is In most places on a
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1/
level with the water's edore. . . . With regard to di-
mate, it is mild and temperate, the heat never excessive,
nor yet the cold intense. The winters are such that it
is not a rare occurrence for one to pass by without a
flake of snow falling, or even the thermometer to
remain above freezing point. During the winter
months rain is most prevalent.
" When we consider the large population living on so
small a surface — that there are two inhabitants to every
acre — we almost wonder whence they derive their re-
sources ; but we must bear in mind that, although situ-
ated on a rocky bed, the soil of Jersey is particularly
rich, and highly productive. The rock is of the primary
formation, void of any organic remains, chiefly granite,
syenite, gneiss, porphyry and schist, with other varieties
belonging to this series. It might be supposed that the
fact of the soil reposing on so rocky a bottom might
produce meagreness, but it is not the case. The soil is
a rich loam, varying in lightness in accordance with the
stratum beneath it ; if granite or syenite, it is lighter
than where the other varieties of rock are found. The
cause to which this difference is attributable is, that
immediately between the granite and cultivated soil is
a layer of coarse gravel, w^hich acts as constant drain-
age, whereas where the granite and syenite disappear
no gravel is found, but a light clay forms the layer
between the soil and rock. As a general rule, the east-
ern district of the island may be said to belong to the
3
1 8 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
■
latter formation, and the western to be more closely
allied to the former ; but in both cases there are excep-
tions. For certain kinds of produce the one is more
esteemed than the other, but the universal opinion
throughout the island is, thac the eastern district is the
richest and most productive. To bear this out, it will
only be necessary to state that the rent of land is con-
siderably higher in this than in the other ; and by com-
paring the two closely, it will be found that the clayey
bottom is the most advantageous. Beino^ retentive of
moisture, it protects plants against drought ; it also
retains the properties of manure, which, in thinner and
more open soils, are washed down by rain and lost.
From this last remark it is not to be inferred that the
soil of the island in any one part is altogether deficient
of certain retaining properties. What is wished to be
impressed is, that the varieties of soil are numerous,
and differ, as has been said, in accordance with the
strata immediately beneath. Here it will also be well
to observe that certain localities in the vicinity of bays
have, through the violence of the wind from olden times,
become extremely light and sandy ; but they, neverthe-
less, are tilled, and have in many places become highly
fertile, especially in the parish of St. Clement, which
may be termed the garden of Jersey, from its great and
early productiveness. Jersey is well studded with trees,
much more so than either of the other islands. The
oak, elm, chestnut and ash are seen growing luxuri-
antly, but particularly the apple tree may be noticed.
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1 9
Formerly a large portion of land was devoted to the
culture of this fruit tree, but of late many have been
destroyed, and replaced by the ordinary crops of grain,
grass, roots, etc.
^ ^ "H^ ^ :S&
" The great subdivision of property has caused farms
to be of very small extent. The law of the island does
not permit land or rents inherited to be devised by will,
but they must follow the law of succession. On the
demise of a proprietor, the eldest son takes as his birth-
right the house, etc., with rather more than two acres
of land adjoining, also one-tenth of the entire landed
property and rents. The remainder is then shared,
two-thirds amoncr sons and one-third amone daucrhters,
but in no case can a daucrhter take a largrer share than
a son. Thus, large estates become very much divided,
but in most cases the eldest branch purchases some of
the portions allotted to the junior members, who have
commonly turned their minds to professional or mer-
cantile occupations. Very many houses will be found
to which only two or three acres are attached, whilst
others have twenty or thirty ; but an estate which con-
tains fifteen acres is by no means considered a small
one, and rarely do any exceed fifty or sixty acres.
There may, perhaps, be six or eight such in the whole
island. However limited may appear the size of these
farms, still their value is considerable. The following
are the prices at which land has been letting of late
years, viz. : In the immediate vicinity of St. Helier's,
20 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
£g per acre ; at a distance of two or three miles,
£6 I OS. to £'/ I OS. ; beyond that, £4. los. to £6.
" Bearing these prices in mind, it will be observed that
farmlnor must be carried on with orreat care and atten-
tlon, and that the farmer must be ever watching how to
turn his occupation to the greatest advantage, other-
wise his business would prove a failure. In Jersey,
almost every family residing in the country cultivate
some portion of land adjoining their house ; if but a
garden, they grow fruit and vegetables for the markets ;
and if they have one and a half to two acres of land,
they keep a cow, two or three pigs and some poultry,
increasing their stock in proportion to the extent of
their occupation.
^ ^ :{: Hf ^
" A farm of twenty acres, as before mentioned, will,
with few exceptions (where meadow-land or orchards
predominate), be distributed as follows :
Acres.
Hay and pasture lo
Turnips 2
Mangolds , I
Parsnips I
Carrots o^
Potatoes 2
Wlieat 314;
20
" The stock usually kept will consist of —
Horses 2
Cows 6
Heifers 6
Pifjs 8
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AXD GUERNSEY COW. 21
"To manage the above, and keep the whole in proper
order, will require the constant attention of four per-
sons, two men and two w^omen. In most cases the
farmer has not recourse to assistance beyond that of his
own immediate household ; it is, indeed, a rare occur-
rence for a tenant-farmer to hold a farm of this extent
unless he can rely upon his own family for assistance.
♦ ♦ •■; ♦ *
*' In Jersey, horned cattle constitute the mainstay of
agriculture ; it is that upon which the farmer chiefly
depends for money to pay his rents. Although the
Jersey cow has been the subject of much notice in dif-
ferent publications, and is known to all who turn their
attention to agriculture, still, within these pages, some
remarks on the originality, value, and peculiarities of
the breed are indispensable. The animal known in
England and elsewhere under the name of Alderney
cow is the same which is now under our consideration.
The reason for the breed going under the name of
Alderney is, that from that island the first were ex-
ported to England. At present but few are obtained
from Alderney. In form the Jersey cow is deer-like,
and small in size ; the colors mostly prized are the light
red and white, the brown, and the fawn ; brindled speci-
mens are rarely seen ; they are not at all valued, and may
be purchased extremely cheap. The cow is naturally
quiet, so much so that a mere child can manage her."
Ji: :i: * :): ♦
In 1844, ^-ol- Le Couteur, Queen's Aide-de-Camp in
22 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
Jersey, contributed to the Royal Agricultural Society of
England an essay on "The Jersey, misnamed Alderney,
Cow," which is here copied, nearly entire, from the
Society's Journal, vol. v., p. 43 :
"The breed of cattle familiarly known throughout
Great Britain as the Alderney, and correctly termed, in
the article ' Cattle,' of the ' Library of Useful Know-
ledge,' * the crumpled horned,' was originally Norman,
it is conceived, as cows very similar to them in form
and color are to be seen in various parts of Normandy
and Brittany also ; but the difference in their milking
and creaming qualities is really astonishing, the Jersey
cow producing nearly double the quantity of butter.
" The race is miscalled ' Alderney ' as far as Jersey is
In question ; for, about seventy years since, Mr. Du-
maresq, of St. Peter's, afterwards the chief magistrate,
sent some of the best Jersey cows to his father-in-law,
the then proprietor of Alderney ; so that the Jersey
was, already at that period, an improved and superior
to the Alderney race. It has since been vastly
amended in form, and generally so in various qualities,
though the best of those recorded at that period gave
as much milk and butter as the best may do now.
" Ten years have elapsed since the attempt was first
made by fixed rules to improve the form and quality of
the Jersey cow. A few gentlemen, presided over by
the then Lieutenant-Governor, Major-General Thorn-
ton, selected two beautiful cows, with the best qualities,
as models. One of these was held to be perfect In her
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY CO IV. 23
barrel and fore-quarters, the other equally so in her
hind-quarters. From these two the following points
were laid down to be the rule for governing the judges
in all the cattle-shows of the Jersey Agricultural
Society. (See pp. loo to 102 for scales of points.)
" The accuracy of this arrangement is proved by the
fact that no deviation from it has been made, the expe-
rience of ten years having only added to the scale the
points for general appearance and condition.
:■: :■; :;; :;,- '^
" The evil was, and still exists, that most Jersey farm-
ers, like many others, never thought of crossing with
a view to improvement, conscious of possessing a breed
excellent for the production of rich milk and cream —
milk so rich in some cows that it seems like what is
sometimes called cream in cities — and cream so much
richer, that, from a verdant pasture in spring, it appears
like clouted cream. But the Jersey farmer sought no
further. He was content to possess an ugly, ill-formed
animal, with flat sides, wide between the ribs and hips,
cat-hammed, narrow and high hips, with a hollow back.
'' She had always possessed the head of a fawn, a soft
eye, an elegant crumpled horn, small ears, yellow within,
a clean neck and throat, fine bones, a fine tail ; above
all, a well-formed, capacious udder, with large, swelling
milk-veins.
'' Content with these qualities, the only question in
the selection of a bull among the most judicious farmers
was, ' Is the breed a good one ?' meaning, solely, Had
24 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
its progenitors been renowned for their milking and
creaming qualities? But the mere attention to this
was one of primary importance in a circumscribed spot
like Jersey ; it may have been quite sufficient to estab-
lish a hereditary superiority in the most needful qual-
ity. It may also have established it with a rapidity that
could not have been obtained in a wdde-extended coun-
try like France. Hence, perhaps, the present supe-
riority of the Jersey over the French breed.
^ * :H Jti *
*' The Jersey cow^ is a singularly docile and gentle
animal ; the male, on the contrary, is apt to become
fierce after two years of age. In those bred on the
heights of St. Ouen, St. Brelade, and St. Mary, there is
a hardness and sound constitution that enables them to
meet even a Scotch winter without injury ; those bred
in the low grounds and rich pastures are of larger car-
cass, but are more delicate in constitution.
" Of the ancient race, it wa5 stated, perhaps with
truth, that it had no tendency to fatten ; indeed, some
cows of the old breed were so ungainly, high-boned,
and raeeed in form, Meof Merrilies of cows, that no
attempt to fatten them might succeed — the great quan-
tities of milk and cream wdiich they produced probably
absorbing all their fattening properties.
•' Yet careful attention to crossing has greatly reme-
died this defect. By having studied the habits of a good
cow with a little more tendency to fatten than others,
and crossing her with a fleshy, well-conditioned bull of
5 r-
3 fr)
S
W
>
w
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 25
a race that was also known to produce quality and
quantity of butter, the next generation has proved of a
rounder form, with a tendency to make fat, without
having lost the butyraceous nature.
" Some of these improved animals have fattened so
rapidly while being stall-fed, from the month of Decem-
ber to March, as to suffer in parturition, when both cow
and calf have been lost; to prevent which, it is indis-
pensable to lower the condition of the cow, or to bleed
in good time. Such animals will fatten rapidly. Their
beef is excellent, the only defect being in the color of
the fat, which is sometimes too yellovv^. It is now a fair
question whether the improved breed may not fatten as
rapidly as any breed known.
" Ouayle, who wrote the 'Agricultural Survey of Jer-
sey,' states ' that the Ayrshire was a cross between the
short horned breed and the Alderney.'
"There is a considerable affinity between these two
breeds. The writer has noticed Ayrshire cows that
seemed to be of Jersey origin, but none of them were
said to have produced so large a quantity of cream or
butter, nor was the butter in Scotland of nearly so deep
a tinge of yellow as the most rich in Jersey. One Jer-
sey cow that produces very yellow cream will give a
good color to butter produced from two cows affording
a pale-colored cream.
" It is not doubted that crosses from the Jersey breed
have taken place. Field-Marshal Conway, the governor
of this * sequestered isle,' as Horace Walpole termed it,
4
26 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
and Lieutenant-General Andrew Gordon, who succeeded
him, nearly half a century back, both sent some of the
best cattle to England and Scotland. If pains were
taken, the race and its consequents might be distinctly
traced, which might lead to important results in breed-
ing.
" The Q-rand desideratum is to discover a breed that
will be useful to the grazier, the dairyman, and the small
farmer. In so small a spot as Jersey, it is difficult to
cross the breed essentially — a great step towards it is
gained by crossing cattle bred in the low rich pastures with
those of the exposed hills on the western or northern
coast ; these being smaller, finer boned, of a more hardy
constitution, and feeding on a short, rich bite, impart
strenofth of constitution and hardihood to the larger and
more delicate animals of the sheltered low orrounds.
" It is believed that cattle are generally more healthy
and free from epidemics here than in most countries.
This may be attributable in some measure to the saline
particles which, being so frequently in suspension over
the island, are afterwards deposited on the herbage, and
tend to its salubrity. After heavy gales, it is frequently
found that the orrass all across the island has a stroncr
o o
saline flavor. So partial are cattle to this flavor, that
they will greedily devour grass which has been watered
with sea-water which they previously rejected. Two
pipes per acre, spread from an ordinary watering-cart,
or from a pipe which may be made to pour into a long
deal box, perforated with holes, will be found of great
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 2/
Utility where sea-water or salt can be obtained at small
cost.
" The Jersey farmer treats his cow with gentleness
and care ; It might be more correct to say that his wife
does so. On good farms she is usually housed at night,
after the end of October to the end of February, if
heavy rainy, hail or snow prevails. It is deemed to be
healthful to give a cow a short run daily through the
winter, excepting in stormy weather. At this season,
which is usually several degrees warmer than in the
mildest part of Devonshire, she is fed with a certain
portion of straw, from lo lbs. to 20 lbs. of hay, with
about 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. of parsnips, white carrots, tur-
nips or mangold-wurzel.
" The small portion of grass which she may pick up
in the winter, with the above quantity of food, enables
her to produce a rich and well-colored sample of butter
till within six weeks of parturition.
''At this period, which is usually regulated to take
place about the month of March or April, just when the
cow, being in full milk, may soon be placed on the fresh
spring pasture In April or May, she is an object of ex-
treme care. On calving, sheds given a warm potation
of cider, with a little powdered ginger. Quayle hints
that pet cows are further indulged with a toast in their
caudle.
" The calf is taken from the cow at once, and fed by .
hand. It may be well to advise that, on the first occa-
sion of calvinor, the calf should be allowed to draw the
28 777^ JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
COW fully ; for no milking by hand will so completely
empty the udder, nor cause the milk-veins to swell to
their full development, as will the suction of the calf.
" Some of the early meadows produce rich grass In
March; but the general flush of grass, which comes on
generally late in April, is the period when the Jersey
farmer looks forward with anxiety. The cow is then
tethered to the ground by means of a halter 5 or 6 feet
long ; this is appended by a ring and swivel to a chain
which encircles her horns, closed by a ring and bar ; the
other end of the halter is fastened to a chain 6 or 8 feet
long, which is connected by a swivel and ring to a stout
iron stake a foot long: this is driven into the ground by
means of a wooden mallet. The cow, having this circu-
lar range of 1 2 feet or more, is compelled to eat it clean.
She is usually moved thrice a day, and milked morning
and evening, on many farms at midday also. Under
this system, the writer has owned four cows that pro-
duced 48 lbs. Jersey, or above 51 lbs. imperial, weight
of rich yellow butter per week in the month of May and
part of June.
"In very hot weather, in July or August, it is advisa-
ble to shelter the cow from the heat and flies ; other-
wise, these tease cows to such a degree, by forcing
them to run about incessandy, that they have no time
for repose, or for chewing the cud ; they, in consequence,
afford much less milk or cream.
*' It was anciendy thought that cream from the Jersey
cow was too rich for making cheese. Mr. Le Feuvre,
THE JERSEY, ALDER KEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 29
of La Hogue, who has a fine breed of cows, tried the
experiment two years since, and succeeded to admira-
tion. It was made from the pure milk, cream and all,
as it comes from the cow. It was found that the quan-
tity of milk that would have produced a pound of butter
afforded i \ lb. of cheese.
" From the quantity of milk which produced a cheese
of 20 lbs. weight, the drainings of the curds and whey,
on being churned, yielded 4 lbs. of butter. This butter
was of an inferior quality when eaten with bread, but
was superior to any other for the making of pastry ; it
was peculiarly hard, and of excellent texture for such
use in hot weather. The writer has tasted cheeses from
Mr. Le Feuvre's farm quite equal in quality to the
richest double-Glo'ster.
*' On one or two farms besides General Fouzel's,
butter is made from clouted cream in the Devonshire
mode; but as this is not peculiar to Jersey, it is not
noticed further than that 10 lbs. of butter are usually
made in five minutes by this process. The usual way
of procuring the cream is by placing the milk in pans
about 6 inches deep — the glazed shallow earthenware
having taken place of the unglazed deep vessels.
" It is admitted that the richest milk and cream are
produced by cows whose ears have a yellow or orange
color within. Some of the best cows give 26 quarts of
milk in 24 hours, and 14 lbs. of butter from such milk
in one week. Such are rare. Good cows afford 20
quarts of milk daily, and 10 lbs. of butter weekly, in the
30 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
Spring and summer months. Butter Is made every
second or third day."
The following letter from Col. Le Couteur to Col.
Geo. E. Waring, Jr., Secretary of the American Jersey
Cattle Club, in response to Inquiries made in behalf of
the Club, will give interesting particulars down to a late
date from the Island of Jersey:
"Belle Vue, September 14, 1869.
" I have only experience to add to anything I may
have written in my essay on the Jersey cow in the Joiir-
7ial of the Royal Agriadtural Society of England, in
1844, which has reappeared in the Transactions of the
New York State Agricidticral Society of 1850.
"Our farmers have not the singular variety of ideas
as to the appearance and character of our breed which
you describe to prevail among the members of your
Club. Our breed Is believed to be a local pui^e breed,
Its original milking and butyraceous qualities having
been improved, more than three-quarters of a century
back, by carefully crossing In the line : In that view,
then, without much regard to beauty of form. Later,
since the formation of our present Society, of which I
was the first honorary secretary In 1834, great attention
has been constantly paid to combine beauty of form
with butter-producing habits.
" The outline history of our breed is this : In the year
1789, the Jersey cow was already considered so good,
so superior to any then known, I imagine, that an act
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 3 1
of our local legislature (which for such ends Is quite
independent of the British Parliament) was passed, by
which the importation Into Jersey of cow, heifer, calf, or
bull was prohibited, under the penalty of two hundred
llvres, wath the forfeiture of boat and tackle, besides a
fine of fifty llvres to be imposed on every sailor on
board who did not Inform of the attempt at importation.
Moreover, the animal was decreed to be immediately
slaughtered, and Its flesh given to the poor. Later laws
are equally stringent: no foreign horned cattle are
ever allowed to come to Jersey but as butcher's meat.
" Guernsey cattle are not deemed foreign, but there
are scarcely over a dozen of that breed in our Island.
They are of larger bone and carcass, considered to be
coarse, though famous milkers, requiring much more
food than the Jersey. Our judges at our cattle-shows
have discarded both them and their progeny.
" Those enterprising American farmers who have vis-
ited Jersey, and have found a marked difference to exist
between the cattle of the Eastern district and those of
the Western district, being cursory visitors, may not
have been made aware of what I am to state. I believe
the type to be the same. The difference in appearance
Is thus accounted for: The north and north-west coast
of Jersey Is high and precipitous, a bold syenite rock,
rising two hundred and m.ore feet from the level of the
sea. Its nearest shelter in a w^esterly or south-westerly
direction is the Island of Newfoundland, or the British-
American shore. South-west gales prevail here nine
32 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
months out of the twelve. While I am writing, a hurri-
cane from the south-west has burst over us, and burned
all the exposed trees like a flame ; it has ruined scores
of orchards and gardens, levelled many trees, leaving
the pastures like damaged hay. Hence this elevated
coast has usually a short, scant, rich, nutritious herbage,
from being so frequently saturated with saline moisture.
Thus the cattle on this side are small, fine-limbed, and
hardy.
"The southward half of Jersey may be called an in-
clined plane, gradually and beautifully slanting to the
sea-shore, watered by innumerable streams. A part of
it is a rich alluvial soil and meadow- land — so sheltered
and warmed as to produce fruit and vegetables a fort-
night or three weeks sooner than in my neighborhood.
The cattle of this district are, consequently, fed on a
richer pasture. They are larger in carcass, some think
handsomer, than those of the upland. I consider them
to be more delicate.
" The late Earl Spencer, and former President of the
Royal Agricultural Society, England, the able and
worthy contemporary of Bates, Booth, and other noted
Short-horn breeders, had a fine little herd of Jersey
cows. When on a visit to him at Althorp, in 1839, ^^
strongly advised me to recommend our farmers never
to venture on a foreign cross, nor with Short-horns or
Devons : merely to cross the cows of the low, rich pas-
tures with the hardy bulls of the exposed northern
coasts, and vice versa; we had established a character
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 33
in our cows for creaming and milking habits peculiar to
our crumpled-horn race, to hold to that alone, by which
means our breed might continue as renowned in the
next century as it has been so in the present one.
Many have held to that sound advice.
" I shall be much honored by receiving a copy of your
Jersey Herd-Book, and shall, moreover, feel much grati-
fied if what I have written shall prove interesting or
useful to you.
" Believe me to be, dear sir,
'' Yours, very truly,
(Signed) ''J. Le Couteur.
"To Col. Geo. E. Waring, Jr., Secretary, etc.
" N.B. — We have never had rinderpest or cattle-
plague in Jersey."
We will close this interesting chapter on the Jersey
cow by adding the following very thorough and highly
sensible and practical essay, by Col. Geo. E. Waring,
Jr., Secretary of the American Jersey Cattle Club, and
published in the Herd-Register of the Club, Vol. I.,
1871 ; a work which every breeder of Jerseys should
have, and of which Club they should become members :
" There have been many theories advanced concern-
ing the origin of the Jersey breed of cattle, but the
WTiter has been unable to find satisfactory evidence of
the truth of any of them. It is quite certain that, how-
ever this breed may have originated, it has been vastly
34 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY ^;F.
modified by the circumstances under which it has so
long been cultivated ; and it seems to me that we need
not look beyond these circumstances for the causes of
its peculiarities. It is apparent from Col. Le Couteur's
letter that there are two distinct classes of Jersey cattle
within a region hardly larger than Staten Island, New
York. As the inhabitants of these islands are within
easy reach of the principal market-place, it is natural to
suppose that interchanges of the stock frequently take
place ; and such interchanges have undoubtedly not
been uncommon for a long time. Yet the distinction
between the small, hardy animals of the high-coast
region and the more fully developed ones of the shel-
tered lowlands appears to have been maintained. This
indicates that the influence of local circumstances has
been sufficient to counteract the effect of cross-breed-
ing. Naturally, therefore, it is fair to think that causes
which can so far modify ancestral peculiarities are amply
sufficient to account for the most highly prized charac-
teristics of our favorite race.
" Climate has much to do with the matter, through
both its direct effect on the animal and its indirect
effect through the quality of its food. Much, undoubt-
edly, is due to the admixture, by interbreeding, between
the animals of the different localities. What modifica-
tions of the race are to be traced to these influences it
would be impossible to determine.
" Hardly less, probably, than the effect of the fore-
going causes is that of the system of agriculture neces-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 35
sarlly practised by so dense a population. The extreme
delicacy of limb, the slight development of muscle, and
the unusually small lungs of these animals may be
taken as a natural result of the almost entire absence
of exercise that we know to have lonof been one of the
leading conditions of their lives. The perfect docility
of disposition, the evident fondness of even the youngest
calves for the presence of man, and the slight dispo-
sition to roam (especially observable in imported ani-
mals), have unquestionably grown from the door-yard
and household-pet character of their treatment through
long generations. The unusual secretion of fat In the
milk may be reasonably attributed to the slight waste
of the fat- forming portions of the food that moderate
respiration and limited exercise make possible, and to
the fact that fat In this form, rather than In flesh, has
long been the prime object of the farmer's attention.
The beauty of appearance, the delicate coloring, the
mellow, kindly eyes, the fine horns, and the softness of
the skin, may be in part due to original characteristics
of the breed, or of its several ancestors, and in great
part to the demand that taste and fashion have caused.
" It would be interesting to know, were It possible to
discover, how far purely natural causes (climatic and
geological) and how far the Influence of man's needs
have operated in determining the peculiarities of the
breed as now known.
" Reasoning from analogy, and remembering the
achievements of the breeders of Short-horned cattle.
36 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
and of the improved races of sheep and swine, it is
hardly extravagant to ascribe the greater importance to
human intervention.
" Of course it should be our object to improve on the
best results that have yet been attained by breeders in
Jersey, but we should be extremely careful how we set
about it. The papers quoted at the commencement of
this essay convey, probably, as good an idea as can be
obtained, without a personal visit, of the social, geologi-
cal, agricultural and climatic circumstances under which
the development of the breed has taken place. Within
certain wide limits we should be careful how we deviate
from the lines of influence that these circumstances have
marked.
" It is very commonly asserted that, under the warmer
sun, on the broader pastures, and with the more lavish
feeding that are incident to our own operations, the breed
has improved since its introduction into this country ;
also that the progeny of imported animals are usually
superior to their progenitors. It seems to me that this
criticism is not unquestionably a sound one. There is
no doubt that, under ordinary American treatment, the
animals do increase in size, in richness of appearance,
and in the quantity of their yield of milk ; it is, how-
ever, very doubtful whether this general enlargement is
a real advantage. The most desirable "qualities of the
Jersey are quite the opposite of the most desirable
qualities of the Short-horn or the Ayrshire ; and there
seems no reason to suppose that we shall really im-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 3/
prove the breed by giving it the characteristics of larger
races, else we had better breed Short- horns or Ayrshires
at once.
" There are physiological reasons why it is impossible
to combine the rich creaming quality of the Jersey with
the fattening quality of the Short-horns. In the one
case or in the other the most perfect result is to be
obtained by directing the deposition of fat either to the
adipose tissues or to the lacteal organs. Previous
experience In breeding leaves us no ground to suppose
that the highest perfection of both can be obtained In
the case of an individual animal, and It Is doubtless an
axiom that the more we enrich the milk the more do
we Impoverish the body, and vice versa. Within certain
limits there Is, of course, an advantage in increasing the
flow of milk, but this should not be carried to such a
degree that, in the vital labor of secreting a large
amount of the fluid, fat-forming matter, which would
otherwise be deposited as cream, shall be consumed In
the production of the animal heat whose elimination
is incident to all vital processes. We can conceive a
case In which the chief enerpfies of the animal oreanlza-
tlon are devoted to the secretion of a copious flow of
milk, thereby consuming a large proportion of the fat-
forming matter which, under more normal circum-
stances, would have taken the form of cream. As a
rule, though It is a rule with many exceptions, cows that
yield extraordinary amounts of milk yield thin milk.
This is a recoq^nlzed fact amon^r farmers, but there are
38 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
no Statistics on which to base positive assertions con-
cerning it.
" Neither is it possible to fix an absolute standard as
to the most profitable daily quantity of milk. All that
we can do is to watch vigilantly every circumstance that
may tend to augment or decrease the performance of
any desirable function. As a broad proposition, the
sole office of the yersey cow is to pi^oduce the largest pos-
sible amount of rich and higJily colored cream from a
given amount of food. Everything else in connection
with the breeding of the race is, or should be, incidental.
Beauty of form and beauty of color are, of course, de-
sirable, but no wise breeder will give these features
more than a secondary position. If they can be secured
without detracting from economic value, they are most
desirable ; but if in seeking them we lose sight of the
chief aim, we not only do injury to our own interests,
but permanently detract from the average value of the
whole race.
" The question of size is, doubtless, of great import-
ance, but there is no positive knowledge to guide our
decision concerning it ; at least I am aware of no experi-
ments that do more than to indicate which is the wisest
course to pursue. So far as uncertain indications are
to be relied on at all, they seem to point to medium size
as the most desirable. Further experiments as to the
advanta<Te or disadvantage of laro^e size are needed.
Certain aro^uments in favor of the smaller size are
worthy of consideration. In the case of pure breeding,
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 39
where calves have a high value, more calves will be
produced with the consumption of a given amount of
food in the case of small cows than of large ones ; that
is, a larger number of cows can be kept. In a large herd
of small animals, it is easier to keep up, throughout the
year, a uniform supply of milk and its products than
where there are fewer animals of a laro^er size consum-
ing the same amount of food. One great source of the
demand for Jersey cattle is the necessity for a few
quarts of milk regularly supplied for family use. A
large Ayrshire or Dutch cow, giving 4000 quarts of milk
during the year, will produce an oversupply during one
season, and go entirely dry at another. She will con-
sume as much food as would support two little Jerseys
giving each 2000 quarts of milk, one coming in in the
spring and one in the autumn. In perhaps a majority
of instances, accommodation can be furnished for only
one cow, and food for only a small one. For such cases
the smaller Jerseys are especially adapted, such as will
give ten quarts of milk at their flush, and not fall below
three quarts within six weeks of the next calving ; the
cream increasing in proportion and becoming richer as
the quantity of milk decreases, thus maintaining a satis-
factory quantity for at least ten months of the year, and
yielding enough for necessary use during the eleventh.
"Until we are able to establish a standard better
suited to our wants than that adopted in Jersey, we
shall, if we are wise, adhere as closely as possible to
that. Just now, when so many new fanciers are becom-
40 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW
ing interested in the breed, and are creating a factitious
enthusiasm for certain points of only fancy vakie, there
is great danger that those characteristics on which the
permanent worth and popularity of the race depend will
be lost sight of. The idea that it is desired to convey
cannot be more clearly illustrated than by referring to
the matter of black points. A few years ago, black
points were unheard of as an important feature. Now
a very large majority of those who have recently be-
come interested in the subject regard a black switch
and a black tongue as alm.ost indispensable qualifica-
tions. The Herd Book published on the Island of Jer-
sey contains the entries of 124 bulls and 474 cows; 41
of the bulls and 106 cows are ' H. C (highly com-
mended). Of these 147 animals, 24 are said to have
black switches, and only one to have a black tongue.
So, too, with regard to color. ' Solid ' color is with
many regarded as indispensable to perfection. Of the
147 * H. C bulls and cows, only 45 are of solid color or
nearly so. These indications, like the much larger
number of white switches and white patches, are given,
not at all as being of special advantage, but merely as
distinofuishinof marks to serve for the identification of
the animals.
" That a decided injury has been done by those who
attach more importance to black switches than to good
udders, to solid color than to large milk mirrors, must
be evident to all who have had an opportunity of com-
paring the older with the newer herds — animals that
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 4 1
have been bred here for several generations with those
that have been recently imported. It sometimes seems
that the best stock must have already been cleared out
from the Island of Jersey. Some herds, said to have
been selected with great care and at high cost, have
appeared to be deficient in milking quality, and in the
indispensable yellowness of skin ; while their solid gray
and fawn coloring and the preponderance of black
switches indicate plainly enough the standard according
to which they were selected. In the case of these herds
and of a number of the sales importations, there is an
almost universal defectiveness of the forward quarters
of the udder, the front teats being carried high up on
the forward slope of the bag, and being not more than
one-fourth as larore as the hind teats.
" Now and then, however, an experienced judge,
selecting cattle on the island, brings over as good ani-
mals as we have ever received — animals on which there
are generally broad patches of white, but whose udders
are broad, well carried forward, evenly teated, and of
the good old texture and size, while the milk mirror
and the milk-vein have evidently been an especial ob-
ject in the selection. So far as the writer's personal
observation has extended, he has never seen a really
first-class cow without decided white marks ; and of the
six best butter-makers he knows, not one has a black
switch or a black tongue. This, of course, proves
nothing, for there may be better cows than he has ever
seen whose color is uniform, and whose tongues and
42 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEV AND GUERNSEY COW.
switches are black as night. The statement is made
only as an indication that for the valuable characteris-
tics, the real usefulness of a cow, these new-fangled
points may have no value. As a matter of taste, or
beauty, or fashion, they may have great value, but I
conceive that those who are seriously undertaking to
maintain the breed in its purity and perfection will give
these distinctions their merited go-by, and strive to
maintain the wonderful butter-developing qualities of
the Jersey. Manage as we may in this regard, we can-
not fail to secure a deal of beauty. The fine, waxy
horn, the light fillet around the muzzle, the mellow eyes,
and the clean-cut, blood-like look never appear in
greater perfection and beauty than in the case of the
very best butter-making animals. On the other hand,
the most uniform of grays should never be allowed to
redeem a thick neck and shoulder and a beefy jowl.
" It is desired to maintain, as the most essential prin-
ciple of all in breeding Jersey cattle, that improvement
should march with an eye single to an increase of the
butter-producing quality, very little regard being paid
to the question of color, which, in the case of a cow that
would give 300 pounds of butter per annum, might be
either white or black, or anything between. Those who
make beauty of appearance the chief aim of their oper-
ations had better make it the sole aim, and give up the
cow^s and breed the more beautiful deer at once.
" Beauty and utility are, of course, very often com-
bined. Variations from the fixed type are the rule
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 4^
rather than the exception in the breeding of a compo-
site race like the Jerseys. Their excellences seem to
have been derived from several sources, and viewed by
itself, this race mieht almost be reo^arded as a mixed
one. It is only when compared with other races that
its typical individuality becomes manifest. However
much a herd of Jerseys may vary among themselves,
not one of them ever looks like a Short-horn, an Ayr-
shire, or a ' native.' Within the varying range of color
and form that the breed presents, there are many
points, such as the black switches and the uniform hues,
which may be singled out for the especial attention of
the breeder, and may be made in a few generations
much more permanent and conspicuous than they natu-
rally are. While it would not be impossible, it would
be extremely difficult, to give prominence to two distinct
features — to the large milking qualities and to the black
points — at the same time. The difficulty of selection
would be increased many fold. It would be possible^ no
doubt, to establish a herd of 1 5 lb. cows with the lead-
ing fancy- color points, but it would require a long time,
great care, and probably an important sacrifice of form
and fineness. Then again, by the time perfection had
been attained, the question of color might have come
to be little regarded, or the fashion might have changed
entirely to fawn and white color, with white switches
and licrht-colored tongues. If w^e are to be fanciers in
the sense In which those are who breed pigeons, then we
may very properly set up a fancy standard, and breed
44 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW,
to a hair. But if we are to take a farmer's view of the
subject, and breed for whatever will produce the most
money, then we should by all means seek for such a
large yield of yellow cream as will maintain the unques-
tioned superiority of the Jersey for the economical con-
version of food into butter, and such striking typical
beauty as shall keep her always the favorite cow for
ornamental purposes — a beauty that does not depend
on an adherence to arbitrary points, but on fineness of
breeding, symmetry of form, variety and harmony of
color, and the deer- like characteristics of head and eyes
for which the race is noted. Such a standard of beauty
as thisj admitting great variety of color, allows us to
seek our great milkers through a much wider range of
animals.
" The indications of great milkino- are the same with
these animals as with all others, and it would be inap-
propriate to give, in- an essay on a single breed, a
treatise on the milch-cow at large. We all know by
actual test, and most of us by observation, which are
our best and richest milkers ; we can form a pretty
good opinion of the quality of the animals in our neigh-
bors' herds. From amonof such of these best cows as
are up to our standard of beauty we might select the
dams of our future herds ; and by always keeping the
best and selling off all below the best, as well as occa-
sionally some very good cow that has fallen away too
much in point of beauty, we might be able, in time, to
establish a stock of much greater excellence than any
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 45
now existing. Success In such an undertaking requires
not onlv a oood deal of knowledore at the outset, and
careful attention and study for years, but it demands
that a standard be established at the commencement
from which no Influence shall induce us to deviate.
The points of excellence that are to be considered as
absolutely essential should be as few as possible, but in
such as we do adopt we should stop at nothing short of
absolute perfection.
"It is out of the question, of course, for a single
writer or for any committee to fix the standard toward
which all should breed. It is suggested, however, as a
very good standard, In the absence of a better, to seek
to raise cows of 7noderate size that will produce 300
pounds of butter In a year, and that, while being of
various colors, with a goodly proportion of white, should
all be striking examples of the characteristic beauty of
the race. For value and satisfaction to their owner, a
herd of such cows might compete most favorably with a
herd of solid French grays with black points, which,
even with larger size, would yield only two-thirds the
amount of butter.
" While, so far as personal indications are concerned,
more reliance is to be placed on the appearance of the
cow than of the bull. In establishing a herd the bull is,
of course, of infinitely more importance than any single
cow, and he should be selected with even greater care,
the decision resting less with his own appearance and
points (though these, of course, should be unobjection-
46 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
able) than with the character of his dam and both his
gra7idda77is . The great cardinal principle of judicious
breeding is expressed In the theory that ' like begets
like or the likeness of some ajicestorJ The more remote
any ancestral imperfection may be, the less likely is it
to reappear. But, in the case of a bull, on which so
much depends, there should be no glaring defect in the
dams for at least two generations back, and, of course,
the longer the pedigree in which we can trace only first-
rate cows, the better by far will be our chances of
success.
"■ This suggests incidentally another point on which
an erroneous opinion seems to prevail. It is consid-
ered of great advantage to a Jersey cow in America
that she has a sho7^t pedigree. This is very well simply
as an evidence of pure Jersey blood, but it has no other
signification. If a reliable pedigree can be given and
the purity of every ancestor proven for ten generations,
the animal has, so far as purity is concerned, every
advantage of an imported one ; while the assumption is,
and it will hold good in case of all our breeders who
have kept accurate records for a long time, that the
animal has been bred with more care, and consequently
is intrinsically better, than one that has been bought in
the market-place of St. Heller, without a pedigree or a
history, and sold on arrival here for $300 or ^400.
" One great advantage that it is hoped will result
from the establishment of this Herd Book is, the Intro-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 47
duction of the elements of judgrment and skill In the
work of improving our butter-dairy cows. We shall
henceforth be able to trace out the ancestors of animals
offered for sale, and to learn something of their charac-
ter ; and we may have some better and more satisfac-
tory guide in making our selections than the simple fact
that the animal was bred on the Island of Jersey, and
that it has a solid color and black points.
" Whether we have or have not now in this country
better animals than are to be found in Jersey is a dis-
puted question ; but that we have here ample material
for the development of such herds as Jersey never saw
cannot be doubted. In fact, a recent visitor to the
island has stated that such a thing as a he7'd does not
exist there, even the most celebrated breeders keeping
but from two or three to a dozen animals all told. The
care given to the race in so limited a region, where
careful inspection is not out of the question, has resulted
in its great improvement ; and there are doubtless indi-
vidual animals that it would be difficult, if not impos-
sible, to equal here. These are by no means the ani-
mals that are sold for exportation. That the Jersey
breeders do not claim for themselves great superiority
for the development of the race may be inferred from
the following quotation from the Report of the Commit-
tee of the Agricultural Department submitted to the
Royal Jersey Society in 1868: 'The Committee beg
leave to call public attention to the results of careful
breeding as practised by Mr. P. Dauncey, Horwood
48 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
Rectory, Bucks, with his herd of Jersey cattle. These
were sold, some time since, by auction, when sixty-nine
head of stock realized a sum of 3136 guineas. For
instance, a cow three years old was sold for 100 guineas ;
a two-year-old heifer, 60 guineas ; a bull, one year old,
60 guineas.' In the same report it is stated 'that during
the year one agent alone, Mr. Le Bas, had shipped from
Jersey 2041 head, representing a value of £29,000;'
also, * That the first-prize two-year-old heifer at the last
May show was sold in Jersey for £38 ; and the first
prize in yearlings fetched at a sale £42.' While the
sales from Jersey for exportation averaged about £14
per head, Mr. Dauncey's sale averaged over 45 guineas
per head, and his best animals far exceeded the prices
fetched for first-prize animals in Jersey, though there is
no doubt, other things being equal, that the purchasers
of the Dauncey stock (there being no Jersey Herd Book
in England) would have preferred imported animals.
The conclusion, therefore, is most natural, that Mr.
Dauncey, working with material derived only from Jer-
sey, far exceeded the Jerseymen themselves in the value
of his results. With a Herd Book to help us, with the
encouragement of high prices for good animals and
good butter, and with ample material to start with, there
is no reason why we may not in time produce a stock
better than has yet been known.
'' The early importations of Jersey cattle into this
country are most difficult to trace. The animals were
then called Alderneys, and the same name was given
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 49
to Guernsey cattle, of which a goodly number were
brought over, and they seem to have been interbred
somewhat indiscriminately.
** The following is a copy of a paper kindly furnished
by Col. Craig Biddle, of Philadelphia:
" ' The earliest record of an Alderney cow in Penn-
sylvania, that I am aware of, will be found in Vol. IV.,
page 155, of the "Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society
for Promotion of Agriculture." It is as follows :
** ' " I have upon my farm on the Delaware a cow of
the Alderney breed, imported a short time since by
Mr. Wurts. She has been fed in the usual way with
potatoes, and during the last week the milk from her
was kept separate, and yielded eight pounds of butter.
The cow is a small animal, and is supported widi less
food than our ordinary stock.
u f a gy communicating this fact to the Society, it will
oblige, etc.,
"*''Jan, II, 181 7. Richard Morris.
" ' " P. S. — The cow is three years old.
" * " To Roberts Vaux, Sec. of the Phila. Society for
Promoting Agriculture."
'* * In a note on the same page, it is stated " that the
cow above referred to is now in the possession of
another member of the Agricultural Society ; and after
a fair trial made with her during last summer (1817),
50 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
the superior richness of her milk, when compared with
that of other cows, has been fully tested. She gave 9 J
pounds of extremely rich, highly-colored butter per
week."
'' * Another mention of the same cow will be found in
the fifth volume of the same work, page 47, viz. :
" ' " Germantown, Oct, 20, 1818.
" ' " With this you will receive a pound of butter made
from the Alderney cow imported in 181 5 by Maurice
and William Wurts, and now in my possession. She
calved on the 13th of last month, and is now in fine
condition, running on excellent pasture of orchard grass
and white clover, and gives on an average about 14
quarts of milk per day. From this quantity, during the
week ending the 7th instant, we obtained 10 quarts of
cream which produced 8 lbs. 2 oz. of butter, and the
week succeeding 102 quarts, which gave 81 lbs. of the
quality of the sample sent. You will perceive it is of
so rich a yellow that it might be suspected that some
foreign coloring matter had been added to it; but you
may rely on it this is not the case. I may add that one
of the good properties of this valuable breed of cattle is
the ease with which the cream is churned, requiring but
a few minutes to convert it into butter. When a proper
opportunity occurs, I shall endeavor to ascertain the
quantity and quality of butter to be obtained per week
from the Kerry cow, imported this summer from Ire-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 5 I
land, and the Brittany cow from France, both of which
breeds I have pure.
" * *' I remain, respectfully,
" ' " Reuben Haines.
" * " Richard Peters, Esq."
" * In September, 1840, three Alderney cows were
purchased by the late Nicholas Biddle. They were im-
ported from the Island of Guernsey, and brought to the
port of New York in the schooner Pilot, Captain Beleir.
They turned out to be remarkably fine animals. This
stock, crossed by later importations, is maintained in its
purity at Andalusia, Bucks County, Pa., the country-seat
of Mr. Biddle, and still in possession of his family.'
" The earlier importations made by Mr. R. L. Colt,
of Paterson, N. J., were of Guernsey animals, or at least
there were Guernsey animals among them. About fif-
teen years ago, he became satisfied of the superiority
of the Jersey stock, and disposed of his Guernseys and
made fresh importations. It has been alleged that the
importations made by Mr. Gushing, of Watertown,
Mass., were in part Guernseys ; but this has been
authoritatively denied, and the Gushing herd has been
proven to be of pure Jersey stock. The Guernsey ani-
mals in these earlier importations have been a source
of great annoyance to the Committee in passing upon
animals offered for entry. In many instances, fine ani-
mals, carefully bred, and believed by their owners to be
pure Jersey, have had to be rejected because remotely
52 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
tracing to the Biddle or the earlier Colt importations.
Their rejection was, of course, no criticism on their
quality.
"The call for contributions for this essay was re-
sponded to by only two or three members, and it has
seemed best to allow what they have written to influence
the character of the essay rather than to be quoted into
it with unavoidable repetition.
*' The request has been made that particular points
in breeding and management might receive espetial
attention ; the idea being advanced that white color
indicates a deterioration of health, but there seems no
sufficient foundation for the belief to warrant its incor-
poration here. On the contrary, from the polar bear
to the white bantam, all races that are wholly or in part
white seem to afford ample evidence of the entire com-
patibility of vigorous health with the absence of color.
That color has a physiological significance is not im-
probable ; but what that significance is we are far from
being able to say, and the practical relation of all such
intricate physiological questions must be referred to a
more advanced state of knowledcre than our own. In
like manner it has been stated that a bull whose tongue
is black is more likely than another to impress his own
characteristics on his offspring. A careful investigation
of the evidence, which is within the reach of all, will
surely prove that this theory is entirely without founda-
tion. So lonor as black-tono-ued bulls bec^et white-
C5 O O
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 53
toneued calves, and white- tono^ued bulls be^et black-
tongued calves (die dams being of the same color in
both cases), the evidence essential to uphold the theory
seems to be wanting.
" It has been also suggested that this essay should
include a treatise on the management of Jersey cows.
Except with reference to their breeding, there seems to
be no necessity for treatment different from that which
all cows require, and to introduce a comprehensive
article on dairy farming would be unnecessary, and
would add too much to the size of the Register.
" If this breed has any peculiarity that requires
special care, it is the persistence with which its better
specimens hold out with their milk while pregnant.
This tendency is surely to be encouraged within reason-
able limits. If a cow can be made to yield a fair flow
of milk up to within four weeks of her calving- time,
and need go absolutely dry but two weeks, there is no
question of the advantage of her doing so. That she
should milk up to the very day of calving indicates cer-
tainly a good milk-making tendency ; but it is at least
not proven that such constant milking is not injurious.
Persistent milkinor is a characteristic merit of the better
class of Jersey cows, and it is of immense advantage,
not only in the case of a single family cow, but in those
used for the butter dairy. It is in all respects better
that a cow should commence her flow at lo quarts and
not fall below 5 quarts a month before calving, than
that she should give 20 quarts the first month, 10 quarts
54 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
the third, and fall to 5 or 6 quarts when three months
gone with calf, and to nothing two months later.
" But few contributions have been made by members
as to the butter-making quality of Jersey cattle. About
two years ago, Mr. Charles M. Beach made a careful
experiment with three pure Jersey cows, three grade
cows, and three native cows, an experiment which was
carefully conducted for a week. The animals were in
essentially the same condition, and were kept on the
same food. Each lot averaged about the same time
from calving. It was found that to make one pound of
butter the following quantity of milk from each sort
of cow was required :
3 Pure Jerseys 6i^ quarts.
3 Grades 8^ "
3 Natives ii "
"According to this, a Jersey cow giving about 12!
quarts of milk per day, or a grade giving 16J quarts,
would make as much butter as a native cow giving 22
quarts per day.
" Mr. Thomas Motley makes the following statement
of the product of butter of the Jersey cow Flora, im-
ported by him May 25, 1851 (then two years old). Her
first calf was dropped June 18, 1851 ; the second, June
3, 1852 ; and the third, April 28, 1853. Her butter was
made by itself, and carefully weighed for nearly a whole
year (fifty weeks). The total was 511 lbs. 2 oz., or an
average of lojlbs. per week.
" Mr. Motley states that this cow was not forced in
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 55
any way. She had only ordinary feed, winter and sum-
mer— good feed, of course, and systematically adminis-
tered, but nothing to so stimulate her secretion of cream
as to impair her subsequent usefulness. Surely a breed
to which such immense results are possible is worthy of
our most fostering care, and we should jealously guard
against sacrificing this possibility for the sake of fancy-
color points. A herd of cows that would average five
hundred pounds each of Jersey butter a year might be
of all the hues of the rainbow without losing popu-
larity.
'' Mr. Motley also reports the following trial with the
same cow during the latter part of her previous milk-
ing : ' I tried her milk, placed by itself for one week,
measuring the milk, and weighing the cream and butter.
February 3, 1853, 40 quarts milk gave 10 quarts cream,
weighing 25 ^ lbs., and 7 lbs. butter. February 9, 'x>^\
quarts of milk gave 9^ quarts cream, weighing 23 lbs.,
and 72^ lbs. butter — 5 quarts and i pint of buttermilk,
weighing 15 lbs. She calved on the 28th April follow-
ing, two months and nineteen days after the trial.'
" Mr. J. Milton Mackie writes, under date January
30, 1870: 'Having lately obtained a set of glass tubes
for testing the quality of milk, I have got results as fol-
lows: A two-year old heifer (dropped April 2, 1867),
which dropped her first calf June 11, 1869, showed 3^
inches of cream on a column in a tube of 1 1 inches
(milk and cream together). This is 31*80 per cent, of
cream. The milk was poured from the pail as soon as
$6 THE JERSEY. ALDER.VEY AXD GLEEXSEY CO IV.
drawn from the cow, not allowed to stand for a single
minute. The amount of cream was measured in the
mornincr after the milk had stood in the tube between
fourteen and fifteen hours. The tube stood in the milk-
room at the usual temperature for setting milk in win-
ter. The cow had been fed as usual that day, and for
days before — say about two quarts of mixed bran and
feed per day, on cut hay, with a little oat-straw. I may
add that this heifer had been milked on the morninof of
the day of trial as usual. I know of no reason why this
experiment is not in all respects a iair one.
'' ' The mother of this heifer was tested in the first
davs of November, 1866, immediately after havinof been
purchased, and yielded i quart of cream from 3 J quarts
of milk, fed onlv on orass, and short at that. The
average yield of my Jerseys, tested by the tube yester-
day (Januar}' 29), was 20'45 P^^ cent, of cream, after
standinor less than fifteen hours.' '•'
" The age at which Jersey cows should calve seems by
common consent to be fixed at two years. If allowed to
ofo much longer, thev seem to lose somethinor of their
natural tendency to lactation. The precocity of the
breed, however, is so great that, unless care is taken,
they sometimes come in much earlier. Mr. Mackie
writes, under date June 3, 1870, 'My yearling "Hebe
4th," out of ''Hebe ist," by "Cliff," dropped a calf last
* The heifer in question gave 2%. quarts per day at the time her milk was tested.
The herd gave four quarts on an average. Of course, the proportion of cream was
very laige, as the herd was drying off.
THE JERSEY, ALDER.XEY AXD GLERXSEY COW. 5/
month, when she was only 14 months and 2 days old.
She calved without trouble, behaved Avell in every re-
spect; has given since about 6 quarts of milk per day.
. . . She is thrifty, and I don't think the labors and duties
of maternity so early imposed upon her will injure her
(growth in the least. The takincr the bull was acci-
dental ; but I am not sorr)^ for the accident. The calf
is of fair size, thrifty and handsome.'
"It seems a valuable suo-o^estion that heifers be made
to come in with their first calves during the ver\' flush
of spring grass, when their newly used lacteal organs
will be stimulated to the largest possible development.
*' In closing this brief collocation of facts and opinions
concerning the influences under which the Jersey breed
of cattle has been produced and developed, and the
manner in which, by adhering to or deviating from the
conditions thus indicated, the race may be still modified
or improved, it is regretted that the material was not at
hand to make.it more complete. Further contributions
are requested for the next volume of the Register."
CHAPTER II.
HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD COW.
Having, in the first chapter, expatiated on the pecu-
Har fitness of the Guernsey and Jersey Cows for the
purposes of milking and breeding, it follows that I
should now give such instructions to purchasers as may
enable them to choose a good, serviceable animal.
Commencinof with the s^eneral confioruration, it is
necessary to observe that, as the cow under considera-
tion is a high-bred animal, very nearly the same general
characteristics should be observed as exist in a well-bred
horse.
The head should be small, slender, and lengthy from
the eye to the nose ; the horns thin and open, not
cramped, or, as it is frequently expressed, too curly;
the eye full, but not too prominent, the latter quality
indicating an excitability and consequent restlessness
of disposition that is not favorable to the production of
milk ; the ear lengthy and broad, and well fringed with
hair, which protects it from the annoyance of flies and
indicates a strong constitution. A broad muzzle should
be avoided, as showing a tendency to fat. The neck
should be long, flat and narrow, with a tendency to rise
at the withers, and breadth behind the arm to allow of
58
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 59
a full expansion of the lungs, the chest being rather
deep than broad ; the flat-sided cow is more especially
to be chosen as a milker. The hips should be wide,
rugged and high, and the pelvis (or haunches) wide and
large, drooping toward the tail ; the thigh long and lean
from hip to hock, the veins being prominent and easily
felt ; the legs slender, with flat bone and small, flat feet,
the hinder ones having good width between, to afford
room for the udder. A lonor and thin tail is a ereat
point in breeding.
I now come to the udder, to which all former remarks
are secondary. This part, the reservoir of the milk,
should be free from hair, flexible and soft, with no tend-
ency to flesh ; the bag extending well forward, as level
as possible with the belly, and high up betv/een the
thighs. The feeding veins should be particularly ob-
served. In the heifer with the first calf they must be
felt for with the hand ; in this case two holes will be
discovered by feeling under the belly nearly in a line
with the navel, on each side, in good milking heifers, of
about the size of a sixpence. As age increases the
holes extend, and the veins become large and easily
perceived by the eye ; the larger these feeding veins
appear, the greater is the quantity of milk. The teats
should be w^ell separated, not fat or fleshy, and not too
long, but sufficiently tight to retain the milk, having a
tendency downward — that is, to use the technical term,
not strutting, or pointing away from the quarters, as this
causes waste of milk and difficulty in milking. These
60 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW,
particulars combine all that In ordinary use require to
be attended to in the selection of a serviceable cow.
There are, however, some few remarks to be made on
the hide, which will be found useful In determining the
fitness of particular cows for particular localities, but
having little to do with the milking properties. If pos-
sible. It is better to accustom a cow to cold and expo-
sure by degrees, In which case the hide will adapt Itself
to the altered condition by thickening and producing
more hair ; but when this gradual adaptation of the
animal to a new and more severe climate Is Impractica-
ble, choice should not be made of one possessing that
great delicacy of skin and covering which is so much
coveted, but of one having coarser and more curly hair
and thicker hide, which features are Indicative of a cus-
tomary exposure, when the other points show good
milking properties.
A good cow not only yields much good milk, but
almost In proportion to the quantity given daily Is there
a long continuance of the secretion between the periods
of calving.
How much milk will a cow yield ? In general terms
it may be said that a cow yields far more than she
needs to rear her offspring, and In some counties two
calves are made to suckle one cow, or the milk of one
cow Is given even to more than two calves when these
are reared exclusively by the hand. It Is extraordi-
nary how much a young animal will drink, and no
doubt the function of the udder is most active when
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 6 1
the natural stimulus — the act of sucking — is in full
operation.
Some cows yield enormous quantities, and I am
really inclined to regard the very extraordinary drain
occasionally occurring by the udder of a poor lean cow
as unnatural and unhealthy. It is not unfrequent to
see in large dairies an emaciated animal, with every
indication of great constitutional weakness, and even
the unmistakable signs of phthisis, yet yielding gallons
of blue watery milk. We frequently observe secreting
organs, from some cause or other, unusually active,
much to the injury of the animal's health, and some-
times fatal effects result. This is the case in different
forms of diabetes, and the persistence of a poor milk
secretion to the last moments of an animal's life, months
and months after it should naturally have ceased, may
really be regarded as an abnormal state. At all events,
this view of the subject is w^orthy of consideration.
Long continuance of mammary secretion may depend
on the system adapting itself with difficulty to a great
constitutional change. When a cow is in calf, the
development of the foetus calls for blood which is drawn
from the udder, and the function of the latter ceases.
If, on the other hand, a cow that is not pregnant lays
on flesh, the deposition of fat necessarily restrains the
production of milk. But the transudation of principles
from the blood in the mammal becomes in the course
of time little more than a mechanical process ; and pro-
vided the materials enteringf the blood are not stored
62 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
Up in some other form, they are very readily trans-
formed into the elements of milk, from the system hav-
ing become long habituated to the peculiar changes
essential in this process. Accordingly, some good
milkers, and particularly old cows in which vital activity
is constantly decreasing and systemic reaction becom-
ing progressively more and more difficult, acquire a
sickly appearance, the defective lymph is deposited in
the form of the masses of tubercular matter so con-
stantly found in the chest of old cows, the animals be-
come phthisical, the organs of procreation become
unhealthy, and with more or less constant irritation of
the ovaries the cow becomes barren. With this irrita-
tion there is a periodic check to the secretion of milk ;
nevertheless a very considerable flow continues, not-
withstanding the obvious waste of every tissue in the
animal's body.
The fact that the system is more capable of under-
going natural, though very marked, changes in early
life without danger, renders a young animal indispen-
sable for the dairy, either to breed from or to prove
profitable to the town cow keeper.
To DETERMINE THE AGE OF A COW is therefore a matter
of importance, and this can be done with great precision
by examining the teeth and horns.
The horns do not furnish us with such certain indi-
cations as the teeth, and great facilities are offered in
some animals to destroy the marks of growth and age.
According to the breed does the length, thickness,
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 63
and shape of the horn vary, but In all there is an annual
mark left of continual development. In castrated ani-
mals the horns sometimes attain extraordinary propor-
tions, but this in no way affects the appearances I have
to describe.
Shortly after birth the development of the frontal pro-
cesses on each side of the head indicate the position of
the future horn, which appears through the skin within
the first month. At the ao-e of four or five months the
little horn is firm, and protected by a scaly cuticular
covering, which exfoliates when an animal is about a
year old. At this period the base of the horn becomes
knotty, and a circular depression between the skin and
the bulging horn is the sign that the animal has fully
attained its first year. A second bulge forms, and a
depression below it, by the second year, a third by the
third, and so on as long as the animal lives.
But, in calculating the as^e of a cow at five or six, an
error may be incurred by supposing that the first marks
formed can be readily perceived. It is only the third
year's circle which is very distinct.
The teeth of animals develop with great regularity,
and indicate, by periodical changes, how long they have
been growing. So universal are these marks of age
amongst the lower animals, that an attempt has been
made to determine by the teeth the age of human
beines. But an artificial existence, with circumstances
occasionally favoring a tardy development, and at others
a very rapid growth, completely set at naught any tables
64 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
which may be framed, and the exceptions are too
numerous to admit of accuracy in calculations.
The ao^e of the ox cannot be determined with so much
precision as that of the horse, from the diversity in the
precocity of different breeds, as well as the very various
methods of management they are subjected to.
The obvious changes of the teeth have been divided
into two epochs. The first consists in the eruption and
wear of the temporary teeth, and the second the erup-
tion and wear of the permanent teeth.
First Epoch. — There are two periods in this epoch —
the one from birth to thirty days, and the second up to
eighteen months. A calf is usually born with four
incisor teeth through the gums. In tardy animals the
four appear within the first four days, the next two about
the fifteenth day, and the fourth pair from the fifteenth
to the twenty-fifth day. The second period of the first
epoch consists in the wearing down of the temporary
teeth, which occurs successively from the centre to the
corner teeth, so that all are much worn by eighteen
months.
Professor Simonds says, " The putting up of the tem-
porary incisors and molars at about a month completes
' first dentition ;' and as there is now a given number
of teeth, so any addition to them will make an import-
ant stage in the further process of teething. When
this addition takes place, the temporary teeth, merely
by their number, cannot avail in our inquiries, nor can
they be said materially to do so up to that period by the
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 65
slight wear they may have undergone. The general
appearance of the young animal for the first few months
suffices to form a fair estimate of its age."
The second epoch, or " second dentition," includes
three periods. The first consists in the successive erup-
tion of the permanent teeth.
In referring to the ox's mouth at eighteen months,
Mr. Simonds says it has been shown that at a year old
the four middle placed incisors, in particular, give indi-
cations of wear by the loss of their sharp edges, and in-
creasing flatness of their crowns. '' By eighteen months
this flatness has considerably increased ; it is not now,
however, confined to the teeth placed in the centre of
the mouth, but has extended to all. The jaw of the
animal has also grown wider, thus increasing the spaces
between the teeth, so as to leave not merely their fangs
apart but likewise their crowns. To compensate in
part for their diminished length, the teeth have likewise
risen in their sockets ; and as some of them are soon to
be renewed by the permanent incisors, the powers of
absorption have commenced in their fangs. These
various causes, more or less modified in different ani-
mals, give to the mouth an appearance which is quickly
recognized."
I may remark that the indications of age here given
for eio^hteen months I have seen in backward breeds at
twenty or twenty-two months, and, as Girard says, the
middle permanent incisors are then out at two years;
the next two, between two and three ; the next two,
9
66 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
between three and four; and the next, between four
and five, when the full complement of permanent teeth
is observed in the mouth. But undoubtedly this erup-
tion often occurs far more rapidly.
The second period of the second dentition is that in
which the incisor teeth undergo a manifest change in
their wearing aspect, whereby the age of a cow can be
told. This period extends from five to nine years of
age, and annually each succeeding pair is observed
worn down.
In the third period of the second dentition the form
of the teeth completely alters ; the upper surface be-
comes progressively narrower and flatter. The teeth
become very short and detached from each other, until
in extreme old age they fall out.
In the upper jaw, the ox tribes possess no teeth, but
a pad to apply against the incisors. In early life the
rudiments of teeth are observed springing from the
intermaxillary bone, but a tough fibro-elastic cushion,
covered by the firm mucous membrane, becomes con-
solidated as the animal acquires age.
I have not referred to many accidents which affect the
regularity of 'growth and eruption of the worn teeth of
cows, but they are very common. Thus a temporary
tooth may be prematurely removed when an animal is
biting some tough root, or a tooth may be knocked out.
The early removal of a temporary tooth does not always
ensure the early appearance of a permanent one, and
this is seen In some Yorkshire colts which have disap-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 6/
pointed the hopes of their tricky masters, who, in
attempting to make a horse look old by drawing some
of his teeth, in order that they may be believed to have
been shed, retards the growth of the teeth that are to
replace them. The pressure on the permanent tooth
as it advances to displace the temporary produces a
certain degree of irritation, and a determination of
blood to the parts favorable to the development of the
former.
Mr. Simonds says, "Among the anomalies which are
met with in the teethinof of oxen, the cuttino of one
tooth of a given pair four or five weeks before the other
is the most frequent. The tooth thus put up out of
regular order is likely to lead to an error with reference
to the animal's age. My own observations go to show
that in most instances it is a premature cutting of the
one, and not a delay in the coming up of the other tooth,
which produces the anomaly ; and consequently that
the animal is younger than he appears to be at first
sight. I have noticed that this irregularity applies far
more frequently to the third and fourth pairs than to
either the first or second."
To Determine the Milking Qualities of a Cow,
many important points have to be considered. We
shall classify them under two heads : Constitutional or
rather Systemic Characters, and Local Peculiarities of
the Mammary Glands.
Whether destined for the production of flesh or milk,
the cows of any breed may possess the distinguishing
68 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
features of milkers — the comparison as to superiority or
inferiority being instituted between animals of the same
breed. Nevertheless, the good dairy cattle possess
such a development of good milking points, that, regard-
less of other tests, we can from these determine to a
great extent if belonging to a milking breed.
The head should be clearly distinguished from that of
a bull by lightness, sharpness of outline, clean bone, well
developed skull, with broad forehead and well mounted
horn. I do not like a long-faced cow with narrow cra-
nium, heavy brow and thick prominent muzzle.
The neck varies very considerably in different breeds.
It should be light, of moderate length, with a nice curve,
so that the head when raised appears prettily held.
From the withers to the root of the tail, the spine
should be straio^ht and broad. The withers round and
broad, the loins wide, and, according to some, the spi-
nous processes of the lumbar vertebrae should bend well
forwards, so as to leave space between them and the
spinous process of the sacrum.
A good back is usually seen with a good body, deep
and prominent ribs well back towards the ileum, and
not only allowing free play for the heart and lungs, but
room for the digestive and reproductive organs.
The belly in young animals should be neat and round.
It droops with age, especially when a cow has borne
several calves.
The limbs should be well proportioned, the fore ones
light, especially towards their upper part, and the hind
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 69
ones broad, with full flat thighs, broad clean hocks,
straight and short legs.
The skin should be free, thin, and may be covered
with hair of any color, according to the breed. In
some, as in the Jersey cattle, a light color is preferred.
Amongst Brittany cows the light-colored cows are usu-
ally coarse, wild, and unproductive. The black and
white cows are preferred. Amongst Ayrshlres a good
reddish brown and white cow is considered the best.
Color is of little value to determine quality, especially
in comparison with the nature of the skin. I have never
seen a cow with a really good skin a bad milker. It
is as certain a sign as most of the more generally re-
puted ones. In some instances the hide is fine, and feels
thicker than it really is, from the unhealthy condition of
a cow. I know of no fault I dislike more than really
thick skin. . .
The tail is by some much looked to, and it Is be-
lieved that when fine, and reaching down to the hocks,
with a fine tuft of hair, it Is associated with other eood
milking points.
It is an essential quality In a cow that she should be
good tempered, lively, and in such constitutional vigor
as to feed well, ruminate much, and thrive well. The
perfect state of the digestive system is a very im-
portant matter. And we have before said that a good
conformation of chest, Indicating great power of the
respiratory organs, is much to be desired. All these
qualities render an animal constitutionally strong, and
70 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
enable it to yield milk to the full extent of its milking
qualities.
The udder of the cow is constituted by four or six
mammse, two or three on each side. Rarely do we find
more than four secreting, and they are therefore called
the quarters of the udder. The whole of the quarters
are in the cow enveloped by a common fibrous tunic,
tough and elastic, connected with the abdominal fascia
by similar fibro-elastic textures. This outer envelope
is closely adherent to the skin, and on its glandular
aspect is connected with numerous prolongations or
septa intersecting the gland and supporting its different
lobes and lobules. The tube passing through the teat
or nipple may be regarded as the stem connected with
a considerable cavity, and from which spread many
branches ; these traverse the substance of the organ in
every direction, and are connected with clusters of gland
vesicles. Like all compound racemose glands, they
may be compared to bunches of grapes, the acini or
grapes being connected by areolar or connective tissue,
which constitutes the framework or skeleton of the
organ, and is transformed into or continuous with the
outer fibro-elastic envelope.
The teat itself, composed of the outer skin, of a fibro-
vascular and partly erectile tissue, possessed also of
considerable muscular contractility, is traversed through
its centre by the milk duct, communicating, as I have
before said, with a milk reservoir, and through it with
every other tube in the gland. The tubes which con-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 71
verge towards the milk reservoir have received the
name of Galactophorus ducts.
The different quarters of a cow's udder are suppHed
by separate arteries with blood. In company with these
arteries are numerous veins, the development of which
is very marked in some cows. The udder veins dis-
charge their blood in great part into the thigh vein, but
also in the abdominal vein, which sometimes attains such
a considerable size.
The udder of a cow may be very large, from an abun-
dance of the areolar or connective tissue above men-
tioned. This constitutes a " fleshy " udder, and is not
a desirable quality. If the gland be firm and rich in
gland vesicles, with a nice fine skin, it is much to be
preferred.
The fore-quarters of the udder should advance well
under the belly, and the teats pointing obliquely out-
wards. The back-quarters well up behind and broad.
With reo^ard to the veins as indications of milkine
quality, we can rely less on the so-called ** milk vein "
than is often supposed. If large and tortuous, with a
considerable opening through the muscles of the belly
to admit of its passage outwards, it is frequently con-
nected with a rich udder ; but far greater reliance can
be placed on the network of veins seen beneath the skin
over the fore-quarters of the udder. This characteristic
is little noticed by authors, and I have rarely heard
dairymen or dealers in cattle speak of it. But both the
veins and the udder itself, and those which pass up-
'J 2 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
wards behind towards the tail, in fact over the peri-
naeum, when large, are sure tests of a competent milker.
Magne has noticed this mark more than other persons,
though our own numerous observations, which agree
with Professor Magne's, date several years back. I can-
not refrain from quoting his remarks :
''Veins of the Udder and of the PerincEtim. — The veins
of the udder and the perinseum, to which hitherto suf-
ficient importance has not been given, are able to fur-
nish valuable indications. They should, in both cases,
be highly developed, large and varicose ; that is, exhibit
inflations and nodosities.
"' The veins of the udder have no definite direction.
They present themselves very irregularly, under the
form of zigzag lines, knotted, and more or less oblique.
They are never of very large size, except in cows which
give great quantities of milk.
" The veins of the perinaeum directed from above
downwards, forming a winding line, interspersed with
knots, resemble those of the udder in not being visible
either in heifers or in beasts of middling quality. We
cannot ascertain their presence in any but very good
cows.
" In the cow on which we saw the vein of the peri-
naeum for the first time, in the vicinity of Lille, in 1847,
in company with MM. Delplanque and Pommeret, this
vein formed a very large knotted and winding line.
The Dutch cow which had it, though not of large size,
gave seventy pints daily, and did not become dry while
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 73
in calf. All the surface of the udder was varicose,
interspersed with transverse veins.
''Since that particular case drew our attention to this
mark, we have had opportunities of observing it on a
very great number of cows. M. Collot also gives this
vein as one of the marks of excellent milkers.
" The veins of the perinaeum, in the best milkers, form
a network beneath the skin, which it raises up in a
greater or less degree. In some of the best cows, these
veins mark their position by a large knotted line, but
most frequently, in order to make them visible, it is
necessary to use pressure across the skin at the base of
the perinaeum. The pressure causes them to swell, and
makes them discernible both by sight and touch. It is
even easy, by making the blood flow back towards the
vulva, to produce very apparent undulations.
'' We should always pay attention to these movements
of the blood, in order not to mistake the folds, some-
times exhibited by the skin of the perinaeum, for veins.
Error is especially to be feared in the case of fat cows,
on account of the fatty inflations which appear in the
perinaeum. The veins buried in fat cannot be distin-
guished by the motions of the blood, which often are by
no means apparent.
"In some cows, the vein Is found between two folds
on each side of the perinaeum ; it is there much less
prominent than the folds, and becomes perceptible only
by the fluctuation of the blood.
"At other times (this is when the perinaeum is united,
10
74 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
when the skin Is thin, and the cow old), the veins, though
little developed, are apparent, or easily become so, with-
out being very bulky. It is necessary to have regard
to their size ; though they may be very easily detected,
still, if they are small, the cows are not very good.
'' It is not always on the upper part of the perinaeum,
near the vulva^ that the vein is most visible ; sometimes
it is discernible only in the lower part of this region,
near the udder ; it there appears under the form of
knots, which are, at times, very large, and are observed
on the perinaeum and the udder, and the space between
them.
" Of all the marks of abundant milk secretion, the
best, and indeed the only infallible marks, are furnished
by the veins of the perinaeum and of the udder. But,
although the surest, they are not absolutely decisive.
"To estimate them, it is necessary to take into ac-
count the state of the cows in respect of flesh, the thick-
ness of the skin, food, general activity, fatigue, journeys,
heat; all the circumstances, in short, which cause varia-
tions in the general state of the circulation, and in the
dilatation of the veins. It is necessary, moreover, to
recollect that in both sexes all the veins are larger in
the old than in the young; that the veins which encircle
the udder are those which, if the cows are in milk, vary
most according to the different periods of life ; though
scarcely apparent in youth, they are of considerable size
when, after several calvings, the operation of milking
has given the gland its full development.
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 75
*'This proportion between the size of the veins and
the milk secreted is observed in all females, without
exception. The largeness of the veins and their vari-
cose state, being a consequence of the quantity of blood
attracted by the activity of the milk glands, is not only
the sign but also the measure of this activity ; the con-
nection between the two phenomena is such that, If the
glands do not give an equal quantity of milk, the larger
veins are on the side of the gland which gives the larger
quantity."
There remains for me to notice the most valuable of
all methods to determine the milking qualities of the
cow. It is Guenon's system. Franc^ois Guenon, risen
from the humbler classes, and from his boyhood being
amongst milch cows in his native country in the vicinity
of Bordeaux, narrowly observed the relation between
the amount of milk secreted and the development of
the patch of skin, covered with upturned hair, extending
from the udder upwards, and laterally over the thighs.
He determined from this that It is possible with great
accuracy to determine the value of a dairy cow.
For long was Guenon's system a secret. His career
has, however, been most fortunate, and the substantial
manner In which he established his claims as a discov-
erer In this very important matter has Insured him much
distinction.
"The Agricultural Society of Bordeaux appointed a
committee, in 1837, to test Guenon's capabilities, and
they reported that, although the mode by which he
^6 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
ascertained these qualities was a secret, he had suc-
ceeded in satisfying them of the reahty of the system
he pursued. They subjected his process to an experi-
mental test which was very effectual. Separate cows
were brought from strange dairies, and he wrote down
the characteristics and qualities of each. These were
compared with the separate statements given by the
owners of the animals ; and, in cases of more than sixty
head, he succeeded in stating all their peculiarities ex-
actly, excepting a very slight difference in appraising the
quantity of milk — a difference the committee attributed
solely to the quality of food given to the animal.
''The Central Society of Agriculture of Cantal also
reported upon his system with equal favor. They thus
describe the process of investigation pursued : * He ac-
companied the members of your committee to the farm
of Verac, belonging to the president of the society. He
examined with scrupulous attention the fine dairy cows
of this domain, which is composed of one hundred milch
cows of the best kind in the country. . . . M. Guenon
gave upon each of them separately precise indications
as to the quantity of milk each of them gave per diem,
and the length of time they would hold their milk after
being again in calf. We must avow to you, gentlemen,
that they have almost in every instance agreed with the
declarations of the owners of the cows.' " *
M. Magne tells us, that from time immemorial the
inhabitants of Mont d'Or, in the Lyonnais, of the com-
* The Cow. By M. M. Milburn. London, 1859.
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 7/
munes of St. Cyr, St. Didier, Conzon, etc., have consid-
ered the tufts or fringes on the lateral parts of the belly
and at the base of the flank as indicatlnof the milkinof
qualities of goats. Guenon has founded a system on a
similar basis, applicable to the cow ; and all animals
bear similar indications of aptitude for the secretion of
milk.
It is not very easy to denote intelligibly the whole
system, in order to adopt it without further guide; this,
however, applies to all matters of observation, in which
a single practical demonstration proves more instructive
than the perusal of a considerable volume. It has been
stated, in disparagement of Guenon's system, that no
one has attained his proficiency in selecting cows accord-
ing to his method. We very much doubt this, as we
have seen It applied with the happiest success by several
of Guenon's countrymen. All seem to think his classi-
fication too complicated ; but It may be so for those
who will not take the trouble to study it thoroughly. I
confess that formerly I was Inclined to give weight to
this objection to Guenon's treatise.
In Introducing his subject, Guenon says, "I affirm
without fear of erring that, with an accurate knowledge
of the new characteristic signs of my method, the ani-
mals which will give most milk, and continue longest
yielding it when In calf, can be chosen even a few days
after their birth ; the quality of the milk, whether it will
be rich or poor in cream or butter, can also be deter*
mined."
yS THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
The distinctive signs which Guenon makes use of are,
the htfts or epis, and scutcheo7is or ecttssons; they are
visible in all animals of the bovine race, without excep-
tion ; are situate over the perinseum and inner surface
of the thighs, and can only be examined thoroughly
during the animal's movements. These signs charac-
terize the class and families, which only differ from each
other in the variable form of the scutcheon ; Guenon,
moreover, says that the names he has used are purely
conventional, having relation to the form of parts em-
ployed as signs, and he has especially avoided Greek
and Latin compounds.
Ten forms of scutcheons have been described, and
constitute the basis of Guenon's classification.
The surface of the scutcheon is distinguished by the
hair turned upwards, and opposite in direction to that
Fig. I. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.
covering other parts of the animal's skin. This hair
differs from all the rest in color, and is fine, soft and
close.
The scutcheon springs from the middle of the four
teats, whence a portion of its hair springs, and extends
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. Jg
towards the navel, whereas the other part rises towards
the inner and upper part of the hocks to the middle of
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
the posterior surface of the thighs ; then rising over the
udder on the perinaeum, it extends in some classes to
the upper angle of the vulva, as seen at figs, i to 3.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 9.
The surface or extent of the scutcheon denotes the
milking capacity, its form and outline indicate the class,
the fineness of the hair and the color of the epidermis
the quantity and quality of the milk.
In examining scutcheons, Magne says :
" For the most part, it is very easy to distinguish the
scutcheons by the upward direction of the hair which
forms them. They are even sometimes surrounded by
80 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW,
a line of bristly hair, turned backwards, and formed by
the meeting of the upward and the downward hair.
" Still, when the hair is very fine and very short and
mixed with long hairs, when the skin is much folded,
and when the udder is of large size and pressed by
the thighs, it is necessary, in order to be able to dis-
tinguish the part enclosed between the udder and the
legs, and perceive the full size of the scutcheons, to
examine them attentively, to place the limbs of the cow
apart, and even stretch the skin in order to efface its
folds.
" The scutcheons may also be perceived by leaning
the back of the hand against the perinaeum, and then
drawino the hand from above downwards. The nails
rub against the ascending hair, and give sensible indica-
tion of the parts covered by it.
*' As the hair of the scutcheon has not the same direc-
tion as the surrounding hair, it may sometimes be dis-
tinguished by a difference in the shade reflected by it ;
but for the most part it is thin and fine, and allows the
color of the skin to be seen. Were we to trust only to
the eye, we should often be deceived.
"In some countries dealers shave the buttocks of
cows. Immediately after this operation, it becomes im-
possible to discern the tufts, either by sight or touch ;
but the inconvenience ceases after some days. We
ought to add that this shaving, intended, as the dealers
say, to beautify the cow, is resorted to most frequently
for the single purpose of destroying the scutcheon, and
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 8 1
depriving buyers of one method of determining the
milking qualities.
"It is superfluous to add, that the cows most care-
fully shaven are those which were ill marked by the tuft,
and that it is therefore prudent to assume that cows
with the perinseum shaved are bad."
Guenon says that the importance of the scutcheon is
sometimes diminished, and at others increased, by the
different tufts which are usually met with, according to
their form, nature, position and extent. With the ex-
ception of the oval ones, seen at fig. 2, all tufts encroach-
ing on the scutcheon diminish its value, or in other
words indicate a diminished aptitude for yielding milk.
Another tuft serves to distinguish the good from the
bastard* cows. It exists on either side of the vulva, as in
figs. I and 6, or as on the perineum of the Flanders, fig. 3.
Fig. 10. Fig. II.
When the scutcheon is well formed and fine, the indi-
vidual bearing it belongs to the first or second order of
its class ; but when the scutcheon is occupied over a
portion of its surface by certain epis or tufts, the animals
descend one or more orders in the classification.
^ * Bastard cows fail rapidly in their milk soon after being impregnated ; they are
decidedly marked. See the author's work " How to Select Cows."
11
82 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
If the scutcheon be wider about the vulva than below,
the medium width throup^h its whole extent is estimated,
and this represents the value of the scutcheon and the
order of the cow.
All variations in the hair of the scutcheons are tufts
which constitute irregularity or indicate a fault in the
interior which affects the secretions of milk. The fault
is in relation to the superficial extent of the tufts. As
Magne says, '* the tufts being valuable in proportion to
the space which they occupy, it is of much importance
to attend to all the rows of descending hairs which
lessen its size, whether these occur in the middle of the
scutcheon or form Indentations on its edges. These
indentations, partly concealed by the folds of the skin,
are sometimes perceived with difficulty. It is of much
importance, however, to take them into account, for in
a great number of cows they greatly lessen the size of
the scutcheon. We often find cows which at first sight
appear to have a very large scutcheon, and yet are only
middling, because lateral Indentations greatly lessen the
part of the skin covered with ascending hairs. Many
blunders are committed in estimating the worth of
cows because sufficient attention is not paid to the real
size of the scutcheon."
Guenon, moreover, says, "in general, when a tuft is
seen on the scutcheon, either on the right or left of the
thigh, we know that the veins situated beneath, on either
side of the belly, have a peculiarity; the one on the side
cf the tuft where the scutcheon Is contracted Is small,
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW, 83
and there Is also a small opening for It where It pierces
the abdominal muscles.
The tufts and scutcheon are best seen and appear to
open out at the time of calving, and become contracted
again shortly after the cow has been delivered. They
are best seen also on fat cows.
Sometimes there is an Interminorlinof of two forms of
scutcheons. This depends on the crossing between a
cow of one class and a bull of another. There are diffi-
culties to encounter, then, In precisely estimating the
value of the animal.
Before statinof the varieties of scutcheons described
by Guenon, I must mention that the tufts, or encroach-
ing patches of hair, which modify the scutcheon, have
Fig. 14.
84 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
been classified. There are two species — those on which
the hair ascends, and those on which it descends. Those
with ascending hair are simply traces which encroach
on the descending hair outside the scutcheon, either on
one side or beneath the vulva. Those with the de-
scending hair are on the scutcheons, and are five in
number.
The seven tufts or patches of hair which Guenon thus
mentions are placed as represented below.
Fig. 1 6.
The names given to them are very peculiar, and for
some we must substitute another in English, taken from
the position or form of the tuft.
Thus, I. Epi ovale, oval tuft; 2. epi fessard,\^(^\2.d^\Q.
tuft ; 3. epi babin, lip-shaped tufts ; 4. epi vulve, vulvan
tuft; 5. epi batard, perinseal tuft; 6. epi cuissard^ thigh
tufts ; and 7. epi jonctif, mesian tuft.
The oval tufts are good signs if small, regular, and
covered with fine hair. They are seen in all the best
cows, but they are also met with in some of the lower
orders.
Ischiadic tufts of ascending hair are never seen in
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 85
the first-class cows, but in all others to a limited
extent.
The 3d, or lip-shaped tuft, is only seen as a sign of
deterioration in the two first classes ; it is constituted
by descending hairs, and is an indication of defect, in its
special class, so far as milking qualities are concerned.
The 4th is likewise a deteriorating sign.
The perinseal tuft may exist in cows otherwise well
marked, but it indicates that the animal will have a great
diminution in the amount of milk it yields so soon as it
becomes pregnant.
The thigh tufts indicate a diminution in the yield of
milk proportionate to their extent.
The mesian, or dart-like tuft, with soft, silky, ascending
hair, is rarely seen, and only in those classes in which
the scutcheon does not ascend to the vulva.
Regarding the varieties of scutcheons as characterizing
different classes of cows, it is almost impossible, and I
think not necessary, to translate Guenon's inappropriate
names. The ten classes are represented each by its
most perfect specimen in the foregoing wood-cuts. The
first class has a scutcheon, the outline of which is shown
at figs. I, 2, 3. Cows thus marked have been termed,
by Guenon, Flandrines, simply because the breed of
cows in Flanders excels all others for its milking quali-
ties, and many of that breed bear a similar mark. I
shall confine myself to mentioning the other names of
classes, stating the numbers of the figures representing
them. Flandrines a gauche, figs. 4, 5, 6. Lisieres, fig.
S6 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
7. Courbes Lignes, fig. 8. Bicornes, fig. 9. Double
LIsieres, fig. 10. Poitevines, fig. 11. Equerrines, fig.
12. Limousines, fig. 13. Carresines, figs. 14, 15.
In conclusion, I have to repeat that I am inclined to
regard the above names and subdivisions into classes as
to a great extent superfluous ; but in giving a complete
series of cuts indicating the outlines of the principal
scutcheons, it has been my object to do full justice to
Guenon and his valuable method of determining the
milking qualities of cows.
Dr. L. H. Twaddell, a member of the Club, and
one of the earliest breeders of Jersey cattle, visited the
Channel Islands in 1865, and soon after his return
made a report to the Philadelphia Society for Promoting
Agriculture, of which the followinsf is an abstract :
'' Three thousand Jersey cows and heifers, and about
1200 Guernseys, are exported from the islands every
year.
" The Jersey cow is of a medium size. Her peculiar
deer-like aspect distinguishes her from the Guernsey.
Her head is lone and slender, the muzzle fine, and
usually encircled with a lighter color ; the nose is black,
and the large, dreamy eyes encircled with a black band ;
occasionally the nose is of a buff color, when there is a
corresponding buff band around the eye ; the horns are
usually short, small at the base, tapering, and tipped
with black.
" This latter is one of the requirements of the ' Jersey
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 87
scale of points,' and when, as occasionally happens, an
animal deviates from the standard, being what is termed
* wild-horned,' the Jerseyman has an appliance consist-
ing of a strong wire clamp, with an arrangement of
screws, which he affixes to the horns of the growing
beast, and, by dint of filing and screwing up, eventually
gives them the orthodox bend.
"The limbs of the Jersey are very slender and fine,
her hips broad and developed, her neck is slender and
rather long, and the body in the best specimens rotund,
and approximating to the short-horn model somewhat,
yet with sufficient angularity to ensure milking propen-
sities.
" The abdomen is well developed, giving evidence of
sound nutrition ; the external abdominal or milk veins
convoluted and prominent ; the udder broad, running
well forward and well up behind ; teats squarely
placed, rather short than otherwise, and of a fine yellow
tint.
'' The Jerseys are of all shades of color, from a pale
vellow fawn, running throuo^h all the intermediate hues,
even occasionally to a red, an intermixture of black or
gray, known as French gray, and that merging into
black with an amber-colored band along the back, the
muzzle invariably shaded with a lighter color ; and indi-
viduals are often seen black and white, or pure black,
unrelieved by any other color.
" A yellow brindle is sometimes seen, but this is by no
means a favorite.
88 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
" The darker colors are the most popular in England,
from the belief that they are hardier in constitution and
bear the climate better, but this opinion does not accord
with our experience in America, where the alternations
from heat to cold are much more decided and severe.
Here I think I may say with safety that no difference
has been observed in constitution or ability to endure
our burning summer heats or the cold of our Northern
winters.
" The care of cows and dairy devolves entirely on the
female members of the family, v/hilst the farmer attends
to his growing crops, or busies himself in the other
duties of his little farm.
"The cows are tethered with a rope passing around
the base of the horns, with a chain and swivel attached,
and are fastened to pegs driven in the ground ; they
are moved to fresh grass two or three times daily.
Should they be pastured in the orchards, an additional
rope passes from the halter to each foreleg, and, thus
tied down, they are prevented from regaling themselves
with the tempting apples which load the low-hanging
boughs under w^hich they graze.
*' The method of milking cows is somewhat peculiar,
the milkinor and straining the milk beine done at one
o o o
operation ; the milkmaid, with her tin pail, linen strainer,
and sea-shell, proceeds to the pasture ; seating herself
beside her cow, she soon completes her arrangements ;
the linen strainer is securely tied over the narrow-
mouthed tin bucket, and, placing the large shallow sea-
fcrif^l'frf'*
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 89
shell on the strainer, with vigorous hands she directs
the milky streams into the shell ; quickly overflowing
the shallow brim, the milk passes through the strainer
into the receptacle beneath. This primitive method has
been in vogue for more than a century ; they claim for
it the merit of perfect cleanliness.
" Whilst overlooking the operation, I could under-
stand the use of the strainer clearly enough, but the
employment of the shell rather puzzled me, until the
milkmaid informed me that it was to prevent the
attrition of the streams of milk from wearinof a hole in
the strainer; this solved the mystery.
"The calves are kept stabled during the first year,
and fed on green food during the summer ; in the second
year they are tethered out.
"The heifers are allowed to have calves at about
two years old, and come in profit in April or May,
when there is more demand for them in the English
market.
" The bulls are kept stabled all the year ; in a large
number that I saw not one was ringed, and I understood
that it was never done in the islands ; not one of those
I examined was in any way vicious. M. Le Gallais (the
owner of the prize bull, of Jersey, for 1865), an excellent
judge, told me that in his opinion it was due to their
being constantly tied up and daily handled.
" The bulls are slaughtered at three years old ; the
opinion prevails there that the offspring of young bulls
have most vig^or and stamina.
12
90 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
"In the year 1849, the Royal Jersey Agricultural
Society established a scale of points for Jersey cattle as
a guide to the judges in awarding the premiums.
Thirty-six points established perfection. No prize can
be awarded to a cow having less than 29 points, nor can
one be awarded to a heifer having less than 26 points.
A cow having 27 points, and a heifer 24 points, without
a pedigree, are allowed to be branded, but cannot win
a prize.
" The term ' pedigree ' is employed to signify the off-
spring of a prize, or decorated male or female. The
* brand' is burned on the horn, and are the letters J. A.
S. (Jersey Agricultural Society).
" Besides the Royal Jersey Society, each parish has a
stock-breeders' club ; the clubs hold their parish shows
the month preceding the Royal Jersey ; they decorate
their prize winners in the same manner by branding
with the initial letters of the parish and club, as, for
instance, St. Saviour's Club, ' St. S. C
" A choice cow is sometimes seen whose horns are
literally covered with brands, perhaps winning parish
and Royal Jersey prizes two or three years in succes-
sion.
" Many breeders will not allow their animals branded
on account of the disfigurement it produces.
"The Guernsey is a larger animal, coarser in the
head and heavier in bone ; the horns are longer and
thicker at the base, not usually crumpled ; the rump is
more apt to assume that peculiar droop which seems a
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 9 1
characteristic of the breed, and there is a want of that
symmetry and neatness of form that mark the highly
bred Jersey, but as a dairy cow she is fully her equal ;
for quality of milk and butter she cannot be excelled ;
the skin is of a splendid rich, yellow hue, and the udder
and teats are tinted with chrome.
"The head of the Guernsey is larger, and the muzzle
broader, and the eye not so prominent as the Jersey ;
the nose is usually of a rick yellow or buff; the eye
banded with the same color.
"The colors of the Guernsey are fawn, running
through the various shades to a deep red, an umber
brown, and a peculiar yellow brindle, which is a favorite
here.
" Although larger than the Jersey, I do not think they
fatten quite as kindly as the latter, which has the
advantage of a smoother and more rotund form.
"This thinness and want of condition may be owing
In a great degree to the fact that the pasturage is less
luxuriant in Guernsey, and also that the Guernseymen
are less solicitous about the figure and style of their
animals, being satisfied if the animal is a performer at
the pail, where she seldom disappoints,
" The cattle of the Island of Alderney (which is the
third in size of the Channel group) have a want of uni-
formity, attributable to the fact that they are the off-
spring of stock brought from Jersey and Guernsey,
crossed and recrossed until all individuality as a breed
is lost.
92 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
" Some are neat and deer-like ; odiers are larger and
heavier, approaching die Guernsey type.
"The island being small and rocky, the pasturage
scanty, very few cattle are bred, and, as a consequence,
the breed does not receive the care and attention that
is given on the other islands.
" It is as a dairy animal that the Channel Islands cow
puts forth her claim for consideration.
'' Cominof into notice after several of the leading
British breeds had acquired a world-wide celebrity, her
advocates had to contend with the prejudice of English
stock-growers and dairymen, who could not be made to
believe that anything not English bred could have
merit. And forsooth, this stock, French bred, with true
John Bull antipathy, they at once decided must be
worthless. But latterly this feeling towards their
French neighbors has been wonderfully modified, and
as the entente cordiale is now firmly established, Anglo-
Norman cattle, among many other products from across
the Channel, have found favor in England. The Eng-
lish dairymen have been induced to try them, and find-
ing they produced more and better butter than the
much-vaunted English breeds, have looked at the pound
sterling side of the account, and, per consequence, have
substituted the despised little Channel Islander for the
queenly Short-Horn."
We will close this chapter by giving the views of one
of ' our best American breeders of the Jerseys, Mr.
Charles L. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, on the Mirrors of
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 93
Cows. It is a clear, condensed, practical resume of
Guenon's rules, with valuable additions.
ESCUTCHEONS OF COWS.
There is no point in judging a cow so little understood
as the mirror or escutcheon. The conclusion of almost
every one is, that her mirror is good if there be a broad
band of uprunning hair from the udder to the vulva and
around it — see fig. 17. These cows with the broad
vertical mirror are nearly always parallel cows ; that is,
with bodies long but not large, and with the under line
parallel with the back. Their thighs are thin, and the
thieh mirror shows on the inside of the thicrh rather
than on its rear.
Next comes the wedge-shaped cow, with the body
shorter, but very large, deep in the flank, and very
capacious. This form does not usually exhibit the
broad vertical mirror, running up to the vulva, but with
a broader thigh may exhibit a thigh mirror, which is
preferable to the other, thus — see fig. 18.
To those not familiar with the meaninof of mirror or
escutcheon, it may be well to say, that the uprunning
hair in the rear of a cow, on and between the thighs,
represents the mirror. This uprunning can be easily
seen or felt, being in marked contrast with the down-
running or body hair ; the mirror terminates at the out-
side of the thigh in a curl or cowlick. In some cases
there is another curl, about three inches below the
upper one.
94 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
In both vertical and thigh mirrors, where the hair
runs down, intruding on the udder, as in figs. 19 and 20,
it damages the mirror. If you find a cow with the hair
Fig. 19
all running down and between the thighs — that is, with
no uprunning hair — stamp her as a cipher for milk-
yielding! The udders to figs. 17, 18, 19 and 20 are
made by the artist the same size, while in reality they
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 95
will vary according to the mirror. There are times
when the udder of a cow mirrored like fig. 20 will be
enlarged by non-mllking, for the purpose of deception.
It is always safer to judge by the mirror rather than by
the large size of the udder.
The mirrors of the best cows — those yielding the
most and continuing the longest — will be found to be
those which conform to fig. 18.
The vertical mirror of fig. 1 7 would not injure it ; but
if that ornamental feature has to be at the expense of
the thigh mirror, fig. 18 Is better as It is.
Whenever a good mirror Is accompanied by a curl
on each hind quarter of the udder, it indicates a yield
of the hlofhest order.
These remarks apply with equal force to heifers and
bulls, except that the vertical mirror with bulls never
extends so high. In heifers and young bulls the mirror
is distinctly seen at any time after one month old, and
is precisely the same that it will be when the animal is
mature.
So far we have noticed only the rear mirror, or that
which represents the two hind-quarters of the udder.
The two front-quarters are just as important, and should
be capacious, and run well forward under the body
(see A). If the udder in front be concave, or cut up, as
in B, Indicating small capacity, it represents reduced
yield. This front or level mirror Is distinctly marked
in the young heifer or bull, and can be seen by laying
the animal on its back. The udder hair under the body
g6 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
all runs backward, commencing at the forward line of
the mirror (see dotted lines In figs. 21, 22 and 23).
This dividing line Is very perceptible, from the fact that
the hair In front of It all runs forward towards the head
of the animal, while the mirror or udder hair all runs
backward over the forward quarters of the udder,
12 m.
Fig. 21. /
LOTTIE STARR,
10 mos. old.
» /
V J>
<>.
^^'
O 4m. o
2 in.
O ^>^^"- c
around and beyond the teats, and ceases at the mark-
ings of the rear mirror, on and between the thighs.
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 9/
The breadth and extent forward of this front mirror
indicates the capacity, in the mature animal, of the front
quarters of her udder. In some cases this front mirror
will be found of twice the extent that it is in others, and
.'-—->, Fig. 22. ^, ^
•^j
-e
SYLVA,
lo mos. old.
O 4 in. O
2 in.
•^
V
is evidence of that much more yield. The dimensions
on figs. 21, 2 2 and 23 are actual measurements — the
first two of heifers and the last of a bull. If fig. 22 rep-
resents four quarts as the yield per day of the front
.'''' "~~ ~~--,
Fig. 23.
*•''' *%
/
\
0
5 in.
0
2 in.
COLUMBUSr
3 in.
,0
10 mos. old. >
Scrotum
^
quarters, fig. 21 will represent eight. Thus, if the rear
yield is the same, say four quarts in each cow, the total
yield of fig. 21 will be twelve quarts, while that of fig. 22
13
98 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
is but eight. This examination enables one to see the
size of the teats and their distance apart, and to test
the looseness and softness of the udder skin. It Is
marked precisely the same in bulls (see fig. 23), and
can be easily examined at any age between one and ten
months.
Udders of all shapes hold milk, and some homely
ones hold a large quantity. B, C, D and E, at a glance,
explain their deficiencies, both of shape, lack of capacity
and bad style of teats. In udder A we have the perfect
shape.
Besides the front extension of the udder in the cow,
the vein called milk-vein, runninof forward on the under-
oide of the body, should be large and irregular, and If
forked at the forward end, with two holes of exit from
the body, so much the more evidence of the large
milker. If there be three holes of exit, it means the
largest yield.
Many think that the mirror of the bull is of but little
t7\oment, so that he Is a good-looker. So far is this
rrom being the case, that a bull with a mirror like fig. 20
or worse will stamp his mirrors on and to that extent
damage his daughters, out of cows with mirrors as
choice as fig. iZ. In this way, the daughters of some
of the best cows come very ordinary, while, if you use a
bull marked like fig. 18, he will make poor mirrors bet-
ter, and will improve the best. His injury or benefit
will be doubled according to .the mirror markings under
his body In front of )ils scrotum. Hence the Import-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 99
ance of the dam of a bull being unexceptionable in her
udder and mirror. Her qualities inherited by her son
will be transmitted to his dauorhters.
While careful as to mirrors we must not neglect the
other essential features of a good cow, the buckskin
hide, the rich-colored skin, and the fine bone. Let the
hair be soft and thickly set, and let the skin be mellow.
This latter quality is easily determined by grasping be-
tween the thumb and forefinorer the skin at the rear of
the ribs, or the double thickness at the base of the flank
that joins the stifle joint to the body, or that on the
inside of the rump bone at the setting-on of the tail.
Let the teats be well apart ; let them yield a full and
free stream, and be large enough to fill the hand with-
out the necessity in milking of pulling them between the
thumb and forefingers. And let us ever keep in mind
that the large yielder must be well fed. In this connec-
tion, though foreign to our subject, it seems a fit time to
speak of field arrangements for milking. In our own
fields we have sheds for shelter, and in one of them,
which is in a central position, cheap stanchions are
arranged so that each cow at milking time is fed a quart
or more, according to yield, of good bran. Some object
to this, on the score of economy, and others are loth to
acknowledge their cows having anything but grass.
This is the first season we have ever fed while the cows
are on grass, and their condition and yield has con-
vinced us of the wisdom of the practice. It helps to
sustain the system of a large yielder, drained by the
lOO THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
flow of milk, and needing extra sustenance for the
growth of the unborn calf. It saves all necessity for
driving the cows ; it keeps them quiet while being
milked ; it saves the time and temper of the milkers.
So well do they know it, that a call will bring them at
feeding time from any distance. In the stanchions they
quietly remain until milked, thus saving the trouble and
annoyance of milking in flytime an unfastened cow.
RATIO SCALE OF POINTS FOR BULLS.
Adopted by the Jersey Herd Book.
Article. Points.
1. Registered pedigree 5
2. Head fine and tapering; forehead broad 5
3. Cheek small 2
4. Throat clean 4
5. Muzzle dark, encircled by light color, with nostrils high and open 4
6. Horns small, not thick at base, crumpled, yellow, tipped with black 5
7. Ears small and thin, and of a deep orange color within 5
8. Eyes full and lively 4
9. Neck arched, powerful, but not coarse and heavy 5
10. Withers fine; shoulders flat and sloping ; chest broad and deep 4
11. Barrel hooped, broad, deep, and well ribbed up 5
12. Back straight from the withers to the setting-on of the tail 5
13. Back broad across the loins 3
14. Hips wide apart and fine in the bone 3
15. Rump long, broad, and level 3
16. Tail fine, reaching the hocks, and hanging a*t right angles with the
back 3
17. Hide thin and mellow, covered with fine soft hair 4
18. Hide of a yellow color 4
19. Legs short, straight and fine, with small hoofs 4
20. Arms full and swelling above the knees 3
21. Hind-quarters from the hock to point of rump long, wide apart, and well
filled up 3
22. Hind-legs squarely placed when viewed from behind, and not to cross
or sweep in walking 3
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. lOI
Article. Points.
23. Nipples to be squarely placed and wide apart 5
24. Growth 4
25. General appearance 5
Perfection 100
No prize to be awarded to bulls having less than 80 points. '
Bulls having obtained 75 points shall be allowed to be branded.
RATIO SCALE OF POINTS FOR COWS AND HEIFERS.
Adopted by the Je7-sey Herd Book, i8y_S.
Article. Points.
1. Registered pedigree 5
2. Head small, fine and tapering 3
3. Cheek small; throat clean 4
4. Muzzle dark and encircled by a light color, with nostrils high and open.. 4
5. Horns small, not thick at the base, crumpled, yellow, tipped with black.. 5
6. Ears small and thin, and of a deep orange color within 5
7. Eye full and placid 3
8. Neck straight, fine, and lightly placed on the shoulders 3
9. Withers fine; shoulders flat and sloping; chest broad and deep 4
10. Barrel hooped, broad and deep, being well ribbed up 5
11. Back straight from the withers to the setting-on of the tail 5
12. Back broad across the loins - 3
13. Hips wide apart and fine in the bone; rump long, broad and level 5
14. Tail fine, reaching the hocks, and hanging at right angles with the back. 3
15. Hide thin and mellow, covered with fine soft hair 4
16. Hide of a yellow color 4
17. Legs short, straight and fine, with small hoofs 3
18. Arms fifll and swelling above the knees 3
19. Hind quarters from the hock to point of rump long, wide apart, and
well filled up 3
20. Hind legs squarely placed when viewed from behind, and not to cross
or sweep in walking 3
21. Udder large, not fleshy, running well forward, in line with the belly, and
well up behind .^ 5
22. Teats moderately large, yellow, of equal size, wide apart, and squarely
placed 5
22- Milk veins about the udder and abdomen prominent 4
24. Growth 4
25. General appearance 5
Perfection 100
No prize shall be awarded to cows having less than 80 points.
No prize shall be awarded to heifers having less than 71 points.
I02 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
The scale of the Jersey Society was formerly con-
structed on the basis of orivincr one mark to each of
o o
31 points on bulls and heifers, and 34 points on cows,
so that each point, if sufficiently perfect, received its
mark, and if not, was dropped altogether. This was
altered afterward by increasing the number of points
on both bulls and cows to 100, and giving the greatest
number of points to the most important parts of the
animal; thus, in cows, 14 points are given to the udder,
teats, and milk-veins, whereas by the former scale but
one point each, or three points in all were allotted; and
while the cow miofht be fairlv eood in each of those
points yet she might be cut off of them entirely, and
thus lose 3 points in a scale of 31 ; whereas by the
new scale she may be allotted two or more points to
each and thus show her true value. It is also the same
in the scale of the American Jersey Cattle Club Herd
Register ; though the allotment of points is different
and better in the American scale.
The intelligent and impartial, use of this scale cannot
fail to raise the standard of our exhibition cattle, by
requiring them to be well formed In every essential
part in order to obtain the highest prizes. Defects of
form are often covered up by superfluous flesh, whereby
the unskilled eye is Imposed upon, and the estimate of
the crowd Is rendered incorrect. It is the duty of judges
to probe this excess of fat, and find the true points of
the animal, and breeders will be obliged to conform.
American Jerseys will be kept pure in their charac-
THE JR RSEY, AL DERNE Y A ND G UERNSE Y COW. I O 3
terlstlcs, and not be perverted into poor imitations of
Durhams.
The Jersey scale was formed before the promulga-
tion of the remarkable theory of Guenon respecting the
milk-mirror or escutcheon as a visible sign of dairy
qualities. But this method of judging of dairy stock is
nov/ so favorably received by intelligent breeders, that
it should be taken into consideration by the judges
awarding premiums at our agricultural fairs. If a
breeder, in purchasing an animal for the dairy, looks for
this sign of quality, why should he not recognize it in
making up his judgment of animals exhibited for pre-
miums ? Experience proves that a perfect escutcheon
can be perpetuated from generation to generation as
certainly as can any other outward marks of milking
capacity. If a cow or bull has a defective escutcheon,
according to the rules of Guenon and as developed by
Mr. Sharpless, how can the first prize for breeding or
dairying qualities be consistently awarded, even if all
the other points are good ?
CHAPTER III.
THE ART OF FEEDING.
It must be apparent to every thinking person that all
the before-mentioned qualities, even in the highest per-
fection, will not ensure an abundant and rich supply of
milk unless proper care is taken to furnish the cow
with the kind of food best calculated to the required
purpose. How often is it found that complaint is made
by one person that such a cow Is a bad milker, when
the same animal, transferred to other hands, has given
every satisfaction ! This Is easily explained by the fact
that In the first case the cow has been kept on foul
pasture or on improper food. It becomes, therefore,
peculiarly necessary to set forth the manner of feeding
which experience has proved to be the most advantage-
ous for the production of rich and sweet milk.
The first requisite in feeding is, that the animal should
have abundance of food, so as to be able to consume
all that she requires In as short a time as possible, as
then she will lie down and have the more time to secrete
her milk, and that milk to acquire richness. The pas-
ture should be often changed, and If not In pasture the
food should be succulent, otherwise fat Instead of milk
will be produced ; but cows fed with food of too watery
104
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. IO5
a nature, which is the case with roots early in the sea-
son, require an addition of more soHd food, such as
meal or i^^ood clover chaff, otherwise the milk, although
considerable in quanuty, will be poor and wheyey, yield-
ing no cream. Such roots should be carefully selected
as have no symptoms of decay or rottenness, and should
be mild in flavor or the butter will be tainted. In very
cold weather, and as a change of food, use crushed lin-
seed and bruised oats, steamed or boiled.
Mangel-wurzel, which has become, from its luscious
qualities, so favorite a food for the dairy cow, requires
much care and judgment in its use, and should never
be given before the month of January, as the longer it
is kept the less acidity is produced by it ; and even then,
in my opinion, should always be accompanied by from
four to six pounds of barley meal or corn meal to every
bushel, to correct the irritation occasioned by its sole
use, many dairies of good cows having, within my own
knowledge, been weakened so as to cause disease and
barrenness for want of the adoption of this principle.
The best — and, in fact, the only roots that should be
given — are carrots, the yellow bullock turnip and man-
gel, succeeding each other from the time they are re-
quired till the cow returns to pasture. Grains and
mangel-wurzel are only to be used when a large quan-
tity of milk, in which quality is not sought, is desired.
Many cowkeepers in London feed with these for that
purpose, and are, in consequence, though selling a
genuine article, wrongly accused of diluting the milk.
14
I06 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
It must be obvious, therefore, that such food Is useless
for the purpose of producing cream and butter. I con-
sider grains utterly inadmissible for the dairy cow, and
mangel only to be used In the manner before stated as
a change of diet.
The cow and the horse can well pasture together,
but no other animal should be allowed to run In the
same field, pigs and poultry spoiling and tainting the
feed. All rank weeds must be carefully eradicated, and
garden refuse kept out of the cow's reach, especially
shrubs, yew-hedge cuttings, etc., these things being
often poisonous, and occasioning the cow to slip her
calf. The same remark will apply to dead and putrid
matter.
Let the pasture be free from ponds or other dirty
drinklng-places, where the water Is fouled and rendered
unwholesome by decayed matter or the drainage from
dung-heaps, and by the habit which cattle have of stand-
ing and manurlnor In it for hours tocrether. A clean tub
or tank should be used for watering the cattle, and kept
supplied with pure, sweet water, which. If pumped from
a well, should be exposed to the air a considerable time
before use.
Cows should be taken In about sunset, or before they
are preparing to rest for the night, and on no account
allow them to be hurried to or from pasture, especially
when full of milk.
Cows should always in winter be well fed, regularly
fed, and sufficient food of the right kind. Twice a day
THE JERSEY, AI.DERAEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 10/
as much as they will eat of good timothy and clover hay
mixed, with two quarts of Indian meal unbolted, four
quarts of wheat bran, and half a peck or a peck of car-
rots or sugar-beets to each. Turnips may be fed to dry
cows, but to milking cows they give a taste to the milk
and butter. Corn-fodder is excellent food as an ad-
dition, but if fed by itself will give an unpleasant taste
to both milk and butter. Steamed or cooked food is now
much used and to great advantage ; cows will eagerly
drink the hay-tea that is left after steaming the hay.
Potatoes, raw or cooked, are excellent food, and thus
the small ones come into play. In summer-time, or
early fall, if the pasture is short, fresh corn-fodder
helps the milking qualities wonderfully. This should
always be grown, as large quantities can be raised in a
small space, though rather difficult to cure for winter
use.
Eight tons of green fodder, or four tons of dry fod-
der, is about a fair medium crop to an acre of sweet
corn, planted close, and sufficient to last one cow a
year, feeding about forty-five pounds green or twenty
to twenty-five of dried fodder per day. A larger amount
will be raised from Chester county corn, and planted in
drills, the seed dropped in every third furrow. Corn-
fodder is the great standard crop for soiling, and should
be sown and fed as early as possible in the season, as
the earlier in the season it is fed the more it will help
the milking qualities.
For curing and storing the fodder, the best way Is to
I08 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
allow it to wilt a few days after cutting, then place it in
the barn, with alternate layers of dry straw, each layer
about eight inches thick. The straw absorbs the juice
from the stalks and prevents heating and moulding,
success depending upon the previous amount of drying.
Being sown at the rate of some three bushels per acre,
it forms no ears, and consequently there is but little ex-
haustion of the richness of the stalks or of the fertility
of the land, more being left in the soil by the roots than
is carried off in the stalk and leaf; besides, the shading
of the ground prevents the growth of weeds. Another
advantage is the readiness with which the crop may be
sown on any waste piece of ground that maybe plowed
later than it would do to plant a common crop.
The following is the management of an intelligent
young farmer whose herd of cows, fed for milk, pro-
duced an average of over 2300 quarts. The winter
feed was principally an allowance of three bushels of
cut feed and ten quarts of corn-meal and wheat bran
mixed in the ratio of one to three. This was fed in
three rations, and immediately after one feeding was
done another was mixed up, thoroughly scalded, and
let stand, closely covered, until next feeding time.
These feeds were occasionally interspersed with one of
roots. In summer the cows run at pasture in the day,
are stabled at night in an open, airy shed and fed a
heavy ration of either green rye, oats in milk, Hunga-
rian grass, or cornstalks just coming into tassel, accord-
ing as one or the other was fit. Before they were
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. IO9
turned out In the morning they had a similar feed. He
purposes to vary this feed more by giving one week
cotton-seed meal Instead of corn-meal, another week
linseed-meal, etc., also a larger supply of roots, the
cows needing variety as well as quantity.
We also can recommend the followlnc^ for winter
feeding: In the morning, after the cows are curried and
cared for, cut up one peck of carrots for each cow ;
after eating, the cows are milked, and while milking Is
going on, the water Is put on to boil in the boiler. In
a large trough Is put three-quarters of a bushel of cut
hay for each cow, and the boiling water poured on.
Five quarts of shorts and two quarts of Indian meal are
added. This is well stirred, and fed warm, not hot, with
another feed of cut carrots at night and plenty of good
hay during the day.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COW.
The proper management of milking cows is no less
necessary than proper food.
It should be always borne in mind that the animal
whose capabilities are for milking becomes lean on the
same quantity of food as will make the feeding cattle
fat. The consequence of this is that the milking and
therefore lean cow is more affected by changes of tem-
perature than the feeding or fat one.
It follows that in the successful management of the
milch cow great care should be taken to avoid rapid
and considerable changes of temperature, as well as
damp or strong clay land. There should always be a
clean, dry shed in which the cattle may take shelter
whenever they feel uncomfortable either from heat and
flies or from cold and damp. This shed should be so
constructed that it may to a certain extent clean itself
by drainage, to avoid the accumulation of foul water,
the floor being constructed of materials of a dry nature.
The aspect should be such as to avoid north and north-
easterly winds.
An animal always cold is always uncomfortable, and
a large proportion of the food she takes is consumed in
no
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. Ill
keeping- up the heat of the body, instead of making
milk ; warmth is therefore, in effect, food to the cow,
and may be obtained at Httle cost and with little trouble
by means of a shed as recommended : and where this
is dry and clean, the cow will resort to it spontaneously
whenever she knows it to be conducive to her warmth
which, as above said, Is her food to a great extent.
Cold and sudden chills, on the other hand, are a great
detriment to the appearance of the cow, and are fre-
quently the cause of her falling off in her milk so early
in the season.
So important is it to provide against great alteration
of temperature that the impossibility of doing this in
large pastures has within the last few years engendered
the lung disease which has been so destructive among
cattle. Formerly, pastures were small in extent and
defended by large and thick hedge-rows as well as trees,
but the practice latterly having been to open the fields
and to divest them of everything which could form a
shelter for the cattle, what has been gained in increasing
the quantity of feed has been lost by the disease which
the inclemency of an unsheltered field has engendered.
It is much to be questioned whether Nature was not the
best judge, after all.
Much injury is likewise done by turning cattle out
too early in the season, exchanging them from a warm
yard or shed (especially just after calving) to pass the
night in the open air before the season is sufficiendy
advanced to make such exposure bearable.
112 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
In proportion as the breed of cattle has Improved, so
has the necessity of care become apparent, dehcacy of
constitution and physical sensitiveness always Increasing
with high blood. As a principle of economy I strongly
advocate the practice (which Is lately gaining ground)
of bringing milch cows in at night all through the year,
for they spoil much grass, especially in full, strong pas-
ture, during the night, and are not benefited by being
in the dewy grass too early in the morning; the manure
also would be In the yard, where It Is valuable, instead
of under the hedge, where It Is lost, and where the
cattle would naturally lie for protection.
During the winter, when tied up In stalls, great ad-
vantage Is derived from thoroughly cleaning the cattle
occasionally with a brush, as they cannot then turn
round and lick themselves or rub as they would in the
field. A currying is as good as a feed.
The feet should also be examined, lest they should
get too long and thereby weaken the pasterns, which is
easily remedied by the removal of a portion of the toe
with a small saw.
M. Le Cornu gives the following as the management
pursued in Jersey:
" In order to derive the greatest possible advantage
from his cows, the Jersey farmer endeavors to arrange
or them to calve during the first three months of the
year; that is, when vegetation speedily advances. In
the winter, cattle are always housed at night: when
they come in (about four o'clock in the afternoon), they
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. II3
are milked, after which each receives about three-fourths
of a bushel of roots and a little hay ; they are then left
until eight o'clock, when a bundle of straw is given to
each one. The following morning they are attended to
at six o'clock, or even before that hour; having been
milked, they again receive the same allowance of roots
and hay as before mentioned, and at nine o'clock are
turned out, if fine, in some sheltered field or orchard ;
then the stables are cleaned out, and the bedding re-
newed if required. Cows are dried one month or six
weeks before calving ; bran mashes are given to them
about the time of parturition, and continued for a fort-
night after the calf is born : at no other time do they
receive this food. Bull calves intended for the butcher
receive the cow's milk for about a month or six weeks,
then they are considered fit for sale. A good calf will
sell for about fifty shillings, some for more, but many
for less. If the calf be a heifer, she is always reared
and kept in the island until she is two years old ; when,
if not required, she is sold for exportation. Returning
to the cow : two weeks or so after calvinof if the
o'
weather be very fine, she is turned out to grass in the
day-time : it is the custom in all the Channel Islands to
tether cattle ; the tethers are made of small chain ; a
spike about one foot long is attached at one end and
driven into the ground; the other end is tied to the
cow's halter, the latter being made fast at the base of
her horns ; the lencrth of these tethers is altoo^ether
about four yards. During the day, cattle are frequently
15
114 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW
moved, generally every three hours, and sometimes
oftener ; drink is given to them in the morning on leav-
ing the stable, and at noon ; if it be summer-time, they
receive it also in the evening. About the month of
May they are allowed to remain out at night, and con-
tinue so until the end of October, when the system of
housinor above described recommences. During sum-
mer, cows are frequently milked three times a day ; and
when the weather becomes very warm, they are brought
into the stable for a few hours, else they would be tor-
mented by flies. At this period (height of summer) a
great diminution takes place in their milk ; but as the
heat ceases toward the fall, it rapidly springs up again
to what it was in the spring : this is the time when but-
ter is crocked for winter supply. A cow is in her
prime at six years of age, and continues good until ten
years old ; many are kept that are much older, but then
they begin to fall off. In general, cows have their first
calf when much too young; at two years old is their
usual time, but then their produce is small, and con-
tinues so for at least a twelvemonth, when it gradually
increases until it arrives at maturity. A good cow on
the average gives fourteen quarts of milk per day, or
eight or nine pounds of butter per week : instances are
common of cows giving twelve or even fourteen pounds
of butter in one week, but that is above the average
figure."
Perfect cleanliness in every part of the cow-house is
of essential importance — to judge from the filthy con-
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. II5
dition in which many — too many — are kept, we would
think that this was not essential. The stalls should be
kept clean, and not only so, but the walls free from cob-
webs and dust ; and not less essential is it that the
mangers should be kept clean also. If we would only
pay a little attention to the habits of our farm animals,
it would be seen that they are scrupulously clean,
almost fastidiously so. Much of the benefit of good
food is lost by giving it badly prepared and in dirty
mangers or boxes. The importance of ventilation will
be to a large extent lost if the interior of the house is
not kept clean. It is of little use to admit fresh air to
the interior if it is only there to be mixed with nox-
ious emanations arising from the presence of dirt.
Another point to be attended to is the bedding or lit-
tering for the cows ; in many cases this is grossly neg-
lected, the animals being kept in a very uncomfortable
condition. As a rule, the long straw which is gener-
ally used is used in a way anything but economical ; by
far the most efficient and most economical way to use
straw is to cut it with the straw-cutter. This may
appear to be a costly mode of using it, but it is quite
the reverse. Less straw is required in this form than
if used long, and it not only admits of the " droppings "
of the cow being lifted easily away without disturbing
the rest of the bedding, but it is, when done well, in the
best condition for the manure or dung heap. Sawdust
also forms an excellent bedding, as do chaff, leaves, and
fine tanner's bark. The ammonia which, in even or-
Il6 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW,
dinary circumstances, rises from the droppings and bed-
ding saturated with urine, and is lost, may be fixed by
sprinkling the bedding and the gutters with sulphuric
acid, the oil of vitriol of commerce ; i lb. weight of this
will fix the ammonia of 60 or 70 gallons of urine. The
liquid should be led at once from the house to the
liquid manure tank, which will soon pay for itself; the
using of sulphuric acid will raise the value of the liquid
manure, that being estimated at ten dollars a year per
cow. The cost of the acid thus used will be very
trifling: an authority puts it at two cents per cow per
week.
The best material for making floors of cow-houses
is " Portland Cement Concrete ;" it is easily made,
easily laid, economical and gives a surface as fine and
as hard as stone. Grooves for giving a foot-hold, if
thought necessary, and gutters can be formed in it with
the greatest ease. A level floor is decidedly objection-
able ; no amount of litter will keep cows clean on such
a floor. A plank floor should be laid in the following
iorm : A space 5 feet wide should be left for the cow to
stand on from the manure drop to the manger. The
manure drop should be 12 inches wide, 7 inches deep
and water-tight. If planks are used for the floor, hewed
or sawed timber may be laid down to form the sides of
the drop ; the bottom should be pounded stone grouted
in cement. The five foot stand for the cows should
have an inclination of 3 inches toward the drop.
A plank floor is very objectionable because — ist. It
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 11/
is not durable ; 2d. It absorbs the urine and corrupts
the atmosphere of the stable ; and 3d. Because it is
always slippery when wet, frequently causing serious
accidents to stock.
The best floor in cow stables is hard brick set on
their edges ; after the brick are properly laid mix one
part of cement with two parts of sand, adding a suffi-
cient quantity of water to make the material so it could
be readily poured out of a pail ; this mixture should be
poured on the brick and brushed over with an old
broom ; the brick will thoroughly join together by the
cement, making a water-tight floor on which cattle never
slip, and one which will last a long time. The manure
drop is made by excavating the earth and laying the
brick in cement. The drop is 12 inches wdde by 7
inches deep, and is perfectly water-tight. A discharge-
pipe may be connected with the drop, leading to a com-
post-heap, or a little dry earth may be daily thrown in
the drop, which will readily absorb all the liquid man-
ure. But not only should the house be kept clean, but
it is essential that the animals themselves be so also.
It is unnecessary here to describe in detail the influence
which the skin has upon the health of an animal ; suffice
it to say that it performs most important functions
which cannot be performed if the coat of the cow is
kept in a filthy condition, filled with dust or coated over
with patches of hardened manure ; this condition of body
induces the attacks and aggravates the evil effects of
lice, etc. All sorts of cures are advocated for this
Il8 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
plague of parasites with which cows are afflicted, but if
they were kept perfectly clean, there would be fewer
occasions when such cures would be necessary. Pre-
vention is better than cure, and by attending to the
cleanliness of the cow much would be prevented.
Cows should be curry-combed, or at all events rubbed
down carefully several times a day with a wisp of
straw, and all manure removed from their coats. All
this may be considered troublesome, as no doubt it is ;
but then anything worth doing is not done without
trouble, and to make cows pay cannot surely be called
an unnecessary trouble.
CHAPTER V.
THE ART OF MILKING,
As a general principle, cows should be milked twice
a day, and the times of milking should be invariable
all the year round — viz., at six in the morning and six
in the evening. If after calving, in the early state of
milk, it should be found that the bag becomes too full
from extreme heat or other cause, it will be advisable
to reduce the bag in the middle of the day, in which
case eight o'clock in the evening will be early enough
for the last milking ; but some judgment Is requisite in
putting this into practice, as too great eagerness to re-
lieve the bag may have an injurious effect, by weaken-
ing its power of retention. Before and during the time
of milking the cow should have some good hay, chaff
or meal. This is beneficial in two ways — first, It Is a
wholesome stay to the stomach, and secondly. It en-
grosses the attention of the animal and quiets it during
the operation.
The hands should be dryland clean ; wet hands chap
the teats in cold weather, and want of cleanliness pro-
duces warts. Take great care that the last of the milk
is withdrawn, as one pint of this is richer for the pro-
duction of butter than two quarts of milk first drawn
119
I20 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
off. This point is of paramount importance, as, inde
pendently of the quality thus produced, imperfect milk-
ing will dry the cow much earlier than if properly
milked, and tend to decrease the quantity. Milk as
quickly as possible, and never leave the cow during the
operation : an active milker may milk five cows an
hour; therefore, with a dairy of ten or twelve cows,
two persons should be employed, and so in proportion,
or regularity will be interfered with. Six weeks prior
to the time of calving commence to dry the cow by
milking once a day for three or four days, which will
decrease the quality ; then cease milking for three days,
taking care that the bag does not get over-filled by the
cessation (which must be very carefully observed in hot
weather) ; after this the judgment must be exercised
as to any future milkings, which, if possible, should
cease altogether one month before calving. In all cases
thoroughly cleanse the bag, as, should any milk be left,
disease may be originated by the remaining secretion,
which will be very injurious at the next time of calving.
A few days prior to calving, should the bag be found
much distended, it should be thoroughly relieved.
This system I have pursued for many years, having a
number of calves annually without the loss of a single
cow.
Whatever may be the cause of restlessness or irrita-
bility of the cow during milking, gentleness is the only
treatment that should be allowed — violence or even
harshness, never. There are many causes after recent
THE JERSE V, ALDERNE Y AND G UERNSE Y COW. 121
calving that may produce inquietude, but no other
remedy will be effectual. A young animal never for-
gets ill-treatment, and a recurrence of similar circum-
stances will remind the cow of former punishment.
All owners of cows should thoroughly understand
the principles of, and be able to perform the operation
of milking as it should be done. Very many persons,
children and grown persons, set about and are trusted
with the business of milking who never perform their
part properly, although they may have practiced for
years.
Almost all cows in milk are nervous animals, if not
often wilful, and in order that you may obtain all the
milk they are capable of giving, they must be treated
with the utmost gentleness, and that at all times. If a
cow stands in fear, perhaps trembling, of your blows,
kicks or threats, she will very likely withhold her milk ;
at all events, it will affect either the quality or quantity
to a o^reater or less extent. There are seldom cases
requiring chastisement; more frequently kindness, with
firmness, will answer a much better purpose. In most
cases where chastisement is administered, an expecta-
tion of a full quantity of milk will be disappointed.
The cow should be first brought to a proper position
by approaching her on the right side, stool and pail
ready ; place the stool, sit down on it, and with the right
hand brush the bag and teats clean before commencing
to draw the milk. During this operation the milk flows
In rapidly, and all the ducts leading to the teats are
16
122 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
filled completely. The faster and sooner It Is completely-
drawn out, with gentleness, the more likely you will be
to get the whole. The milker who sits and talks, or In
any w^ay delays his business, will never obtain all the
milk the cow Is capable of yielding.
The stripping, to obtain the last drop, should be done
with great gentleness by working the udder somewhat
In Imitation of a calf sucking. A person who under-
stands and faithfully performs the operation of milking
will cause the cow to yield milk that will make one-
quarter more butter than one-half the common grown
persons who do the milking will. This is a strong as-
sertion, but no stronger than we believe the facts will
warrant.
All beginners should be properly taught at first how
to take hold of the teats ; and when once learned, they
will remember. This is seldom explained or taught to
beginners, and hence each chooses his own mode of
milking. They should be instructed that If they would
milk with ease, the hand should be kept very near the
extremity of the teats — not so near, however, as that the
milk will strike any part of the hand or fingers. They
should sit down close to the cow, not at arm's length
away ; the left arm should always press against or be
in close proximity to the leg of the cow, and then if she
kicks or steps, you can ward off the force and protect
yourself and pail of milk.
With proper handling of heifers while young and
previous to calving, there Is very little liability to have
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY CO IF. 1 23
kicking cows. Sometimes a heifer with her first calf,
and even okler cows, get their teats sore, cracked or
otherwise, and this will cause uneasiness, and often pain
them so as to cause them to kick or step. In all such
cases they should be humored, coaxed and dealt gently
by, and even caressed and fed some choice bite after
milking. It would be well to have a pot of soft grease
from the top of the pot where pork and greens have
been boiled to apply to soften the cracks, etc., previous
to milking, and again afterward. The above-mentioned
grease is the best application the writer ever used to
soften and heal cracked and sore teats on cows.
For milking cows that kick we give a few receipts.
Though this ugly habit may, and sometimes does, arise
from viciousness, we believe in most cases It arises from
some tenderness in the udder from soreness, or swelling,
or cracked teats, or other cause.
Take a simple holdback strap from a set of harness —
or to have a new one made purposely would be better —
slip the noose over the cow's off foot and buckle the
near one to it, and thus the worst kicker can be milked.
If there are two or three cows that kick, the same strap
will answer for all. The cows can occupy whichever
stalls are most convenient In the barn ; or If milked In
the cow lot In summer^ fasten a cow chain to one of the
fence posts, chain and strap and milk your kickers In
succession without any fear of a broken nose.
Halter the cow, then have a small rope long enough
to reach around her body, on one end of which have
124 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
a hook which is put over the cow in front of the hip-
joints and in front of the udder, and hooked over the
rope, which is then drawn moderately tight and tied
with a tuck knot. The cow soon finds she is powerless
for mischief, and with a few times' milking thus secured,
she yields to kindness and gentle, soothing treatment.
Prepare a strap the right length ; take the leg next
to you when milking, bend it, pass the strap around the
leg, let the cow stand on three legs, and one can milk
with perfect safety.
Tie up the heifer, her head as high as possible, and
tie her legs with a common rope.
When cows withhold their milk, they are commonly
in a dissatisfied state of mind, and therefore anything
to draw their attention from this condition answers a
good purpose. We have always succeeded by giving
them a mess of food to amuse them while the milkincr
is going on, generally dry meal, so as to keep them
long occupied. If they have suckling calves, let them
suck at the time of milking. Driving them in a posi-
tion so that their fore leofs will stand on much hio^her
ground than the hind legs, or on lower ground, counter-
acts the animal's attention, and generally succeeds. It
is said that a weight on the small of the animal's back,
as a bag of grain, will answer, but we know nothing of
its efficacy.
CHAPTER VI.
THE DAIRY, AND ITS MANAGEMENT.
The dairy-house should be built on slighdy-elevated
ground and on a dry spot, sheltered as much as possible
from the south, north and east; it should be sunk at
least a foot in the earth, for the sake of coolness.
The floor should be of bricks or tiles, on a descent
toward the drain, which should have a plug, so that
spring water may be retained on the floor for three or
four hours during the day in the heat of summer. The
plugging the drain when its use is not required will also
have the effect of preventing any effluvium rising
throuorh- it, which mip-ht oriorinate at its outlet from de-
cayed vegetable or other matter.
The benches, which should be kept a few inches from
the wall to allow of free ventilation and to prevent
insects from falling into the pans, may be of stone or
slate, the latter material being preferable.
The windows, which should be so placed as to allow
of a free current of air passing through the building,
should be of perforated zinc, with shutters to close in
the winter ; and exteriorly to every window where the
sun can fall at any time of the day there should be
placed a kind of Venetian blind, to keep the rays from
fallinor throuo'h the zinc.
125
126 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW
Never allow the dairy to be used for any other pur-
pose than that for which it was originally intended:
nothing but milk, cream and butter should at any time
be permitted to be placed there. To use it as a pantry
or to keep meat in is to ensure tainted butter. The
rays of the sun should be carefully kept from falling on
any part of the cream, either in process of formation or
when skimmed off ready for churning.
The dairy utensils consist of the churn, sized accord-
ing to the number of cattle and frequency of churning;
pans for holding the milk, containing from eight to
ten quarts, and as shallow as possible ; a deep pan to
hold the cream during accumulation ; neat butter-prints,
of white wood ; ivory butter-slice ; fine linen cloths, to
cover the butter ; a marble slab, to deposit the butter
on ; a small ladder, to lie across the milking-pans to
support the strainer; the strainer itself, consisting of a
sieve-hoop, about seven inches deep, with a band to fit
over it to keep the straining-cloth closely on ; milking-
cans, of strong block tin, as being more easily kept
sweet than wooden buckets ; and good strong tin trays
to carry the butter.
The milk-pans I recommend to be made of glass,
which is a non-conductor of lightning, and can be kept
sweet and clean by merely wiping with wash-leather,
while scalding will scarcely be sufficient for a porous
material. The cream-pan should also be of glass.
The most scrupulous cleanliness, in every partic-
ular, IS ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE.
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 12/
As soon as ever the milk Is taken from the cow have
it in, and strain it carefully through the sieve into the
pans before it gets cool ; after which it should not be
disturbed till skimmed, and care should be taken not to
agitate the milk before it is deposited in the pans to
set ; all milk required for use must therefore be taken
before putting in the pans.
As an equable temperature Is advantageous to the
speedy production of the cream. In hot weather the
floor of the dairy should be kept moist, to produce cool-
ness by evaporation ; and in winter a small stove will
be of benefit, If smoke and smell be avoided in its use.
To produce the most delicate butter, where economy
is not an object, the first rising of the cream (about
twelve hours after the milk has been panned) should
be taken ; but for ordinary purposes the milk should
stand twenty-four hours in summer and forty-eight in
winter. The cream while accumulating should be stirred
night and morning, which will air It and keep It sweet
to churn once or twice a week — that Is, once a week in
the cold and cool months, and twice during the warm
months, June, July, August and Septembe'.
Be careful to keep all tin vessels well-tinned, so that
no rust of iron shall come in contact with the milk; and
look well to the earrings of the pail-handles, that grease
and dirt may not accumulate there. Be sure also diat
your strainer and all other cloths are kept well scalded
and cleansed : In fact, too much stress cannot be laid
on the word cleanliness.
128 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW,
The process of churning will be much promoted in
winter by warming the churn with hot water previously
to putting the cream in ; and in summer, cold spring
water put in the churn with the cream will make your
butter firmer. The churn should not be above two-
thirds filled for churning.
The production of milk for butter-making Is essen-
tially the same as that for cheese-making. There is
this difference to be observed, however: For cheese we
must look principally to the quantity of caseine in the
milk, for butter we must consider the yield of cream
entirely. Cows must be selected accordingly. For
both purposes the same care as to cleanliness, quality
of feed, purity of water and gentle treatment of the cows
should be observed. The milk in both cases needs to
be aired and cooled soon after milking.
From this point quite different handling is required.
For cheese we constantly agitate the milk to keep the
cream from risine ; for butter we must set the milk to
rest as soon as possible, and not only avoid all stirring,
but not allow it to be even jarred. The more perfect
the rest the more completely the cream will rise.
It is still a subject of debate as to whether the cream
rises better in shallow or deep dishes. But it is cer-
tain that it will rise in either kind of vessel if all the
other conditions are right. The tendency is toward
setting milk in deep pails and in large masses. Recent
experiments, however, favor shallow pans.
There is no dispute as to the propriety of cooHng the
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1 29
milk, or of keeping it in a moist atmosphere and in a
light room. Moisture prevents the cream from drying
on the surface and making flacky butter, while light is
essential to develop the color so much desired.
The temperature, it is asserted, may be allowed to go
lower for butter than for cheese. We would not allow
It to go below 55° for butter, and believe it would be
better to keep it at 60°. The best temperature for
churning is admitted to be between 60° and 65° — the
latter for cold and the former for hot weather, making
a mean temperature of 62° to 63° as the proper point.
Possibly different dairies may require a slightly differ-
ent temperature. The cream should be allowed to
become slightly sour if a good keeping article is re-
quired, but care should be taken that the cream does
not get too old and seriously Injure the flavor. Sweet
cream makes the best-flavored butter, but the yield is
smaller and it does not keep as well.
The best method of churning has not yet been de-
termined. Many patent churns have been presented
to the public, but none of them have been any real Im-
provement on the old-fashioned dash-churn. There is
some dispute as to what causes the separation of the
butter from the milk. Some say it is the concussion ;
some that It is the incorporation of the air with the
cream. Certain It is that agitation is necessary. Forc-
inor air through the cream while ao^Itatino- It makes the
butter separate quicker, but It Injures the quality.
What is wanted Is some method that will agitate every
17
130 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
particle of cream alike, making the butter all come at
once and of the same texture. By every method yet
devised there is some cream at the sides, corners or
ends, that does not get so much churning as the rest.
This lessens the yield and makes the quality uneven.
At least a half hour should be consumed in churning.
Where the milk is churned it is allowed to change
somewhat. The yield of butter is larger, but it con-
tains more caseine, and is therefore inferior. More
power is required to churn with.
If the butter comes firm and solid and separates
freely from the milk, but little working will be required
to expel the buttermilk. The less it is worked the
better, if the buttermilk is got out and the salt is evenly
incorporated. It is better to wash the butter than to
work it too much without, but whether worked or not,
the buttermilk must be expelled or it will injure the
flavor and the keeping quality. Indeed, it is asserted
that pure butter will keep almost indefinitely without
salt. But such butter cannot be produced by the
ordinary process. So salt must be added to make it
keep. The quantity used by our best butter-makers
varies from one-half to one ounce of salt to one pound
of butter. Some salt considerably higher and go en-
tirely by the taste. Enough salt should be used to con-
vert the remaining buttermilk and water into brine, or
the butter will soon lose its flavor and become rancid.
Butter factories, as well as cheese factories, are be-
coming popular. Some skim all the cream they can,
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. I3I
and then feed the milk to hogs or calves. Some skim
only the night's milk, and make the milk into cheese.
A very few make skim-milk cheese, for which, however,
there is but a very limited demand.
Production of BtUter. — The number of pounds of
butter made in the United States in 1850 was 313,-
345,306; in i860 it was 460,509,854; in 1870 it was
470*536,468; in 1880 it was 806,672,071.
The following extract is from a paper by C. Peter-
sen, of Windhausen, translated from the Milch Zeitung:
"The churning of whole milk is, as a rule, little
known. It is, however, often resorted to in Holstein,
where cheese is not made. The general mode of pro-
cedure is self-evident; instead of being skimmed, when
it is ripe enough the whole of the milk is worked in the
churn.
" All the experiments I have made to determine
which method yields the most butter have been in favor
of churning the whole milk when other circumstances
have been equal.
" To obtain the greatest amount of butter, in churning
cream, it is necessary :
" I. To be in a position to control the temperature at
all times of the year.
** 2. To be able always to perform the skimming at
the right time.
" 3. Such a daily supply of milk as will yield enough
cream to allow it to be churned before its yield of
butter is damaged by standing too long.
132 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
"These conditions cannot be complied with in all
dairies, and the less so the smaller the establishment.
The greater number of dairies depend on three or four
cows, and the yield of butter is often considerably les-
sened by the cream standing too long, owing to the
quantity not being sufficient to churn.
"In churning whole milk I always proceed as follows:
"The evening milk of one day and the morning milk
of the next are churned too^ether. The former is
placed in a tub directly after milking, and the latter
added to it the next morninor. In summer the milk Is
allowed to stand, at most, two feet high in the tub ; In
the winter about two and a half feet. In very hot
weather the morninof milk is cooled down to i6° to 20°
R. before it Is added to the eveninsf milk. Under these
circumstances the milk is nearly always ripe for churn-
ing when the evening milk has stood thirty-six and the
morning twenty-four hours. The temperature of the
milk when beinof churned should be from 2° to t° R.
warmer than when cream is churned. The churnlnof
Itself should be hurried as little as possible, since the
butter globules being more widely separated in milk
than in cream, rather more time is needed for them to
collect.
" In churning whole milk there Is an Increase In labor,
owing to the necessity for more frequent churnings,
but this is far outweighed by the other advantages re-
sultlno^ from it."
The sm!^rt wife of a large farmer has Informed us
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1 33
how she manages in winter. She keeps her milk in a
room which is kept rather warmer than common milk
cellars. In the morning, on churning days, she places
the large stone pot which contains the cream In a kettle
of hot water on the stove, occasionally stirring it with a
large spoon, until the thermometer shows 64°. This is
eight degrees higher than the summer temperature,
but in winter the tendency is to get cooler, while in
summer the temperature commonly rises. It is then
placed in the churn, and a fine mass of butter never
fails to make its appearance in from one-half to three-
fourths of an hour. This entirely obviates the bad
practice of pouring hot water from the tea-kettle spout
into the cream to warm it.
It sometimes happens that in winter churning, the
small granules of butter will make their appearance a
long time before they gather into a solid mass. The
gathering may be much hastened by dropping into the
churn a small lump of butter at this time, as a nucleus,
around which the particles will soon adhere.
There is no doubt that cows fed on good, green, well-
cured clover hay, or on green corn-stalks, will give bet-
ter milk and better butter than such as eat black,
watered clover or chocolate-colored stalks. We have
found nothing equal to carrots for giving us fine yellow
butter and plenty of it in winter, while a portion of
corn-meal with good wholesome fodder, with good,
comfortable, clean quarters, will do very well.
So many farmers' wives, who find no difficulty in
134 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
making the best of butter from their cows during the
grass season, entirely fail of success in the same line
when they attempt to make butter in winter, that it may
be well to say a few words on the subject. As a gen-
eral rule the failure to make good butter in winter does
not lie at the door of the dairywoman, but at that of
the farmer who keeps and feeds the cows. Those that
understand the proper method of managing the milk and
cream so as to make sure of obtaining a good article
of butter, if such a thing can possibly be made from the
milk of their cows, are often grievously disappointed at
the results of their labors, without having the least idea
of the cause.
A good many experiments have been tried in Britian
to demonstrate in what way the feeding of cows during
winter affects the quality and value of their milk.
From these it was found that the quality of the milk
given varied according as the food consumed contained
more or less nitrocrenous elements.
With abundance of roots and hay, but without grain
of any kind, the milk given, though abundant, was defi-
cient in butter. With the addition of a small quantity
of bean-meal the milk became richer and gave nearly
fifty per cent, more butter and of a better quality than
that from hay and roots alone. To make the produc-
tion of butter in winter any advantage to the farmer, he
needs to have good cows in the first place, and in the
second to feed them with the object in view of produc-
ing milk that is rich in butyraceous particles. The great
!l>i'' '■' \n,i
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1 35
point is to keep them in as high condition as is consist-
ent with their health and breeding, and rather to feed
meal of some kind, peas, corn or barley, in addition to
hay, than to give them bran or roots only. Cows in
full milk should get about three pounds of pea or bar-
ley meal per day, in addition to their usual allowance
of hay, and if the hay can be cut and steamed, and the
meal stirred in just when the hay is set by to cool after
steaming, so much the better. The addition of a little
bran is of advantage in giving the cows a better relish
for their food and keeping their bowels in a healthy
state.
" Those who condemn the Jersey cows as small
yielders of milk and butter, must listen to the story
of ' Rosa,' as told by her owner, Charles L. Sharp-
less, of Philadelphia. She is now five years old, is solid
creamy fawn, and, combined with great volume and
bone, she is neat in the head and neck, with fine legs.
Her dam was a small mouse-colored cow, and her sire's
dam a small fawn-colored, neither of which would give
over twelve quarts.
" We found we were making a good deal of butter,
and as * Rosa ' looked superbly, we determined to test
her butter quality. We fed her per day twenty pounds
of hay, eight quarts of meal and four quarts of carrots.
The meal was a mixture of good wheat bran and corn-
meal, in the proportion of four bushels of the former to
one bushel of the latter. Her yield the first day was
sixteen quarts, the second day fifteen and a half quarts,
136 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
the third day sixteen quarts, and the next morning
eight quarts, being in all seven milkings, or half the
week. Her milk was kept separate, was skimmed
after standing thirty-six hours, and made six and three-
quarter pounds of butter, or thirteen and a half pounds
for the week.
" As you place Rosa and Duchess side by side there
are some points of agreement and of difference that are
of interest to notice. They are both wedge-shaped,
with large body — Duchess the more bony, but Rosa
with the greater rear volume (broader hips, etc.). They
both have neat heads and necks and fine bone. Duch-
ess is, in winter, smoke-color with brilliant white, but
not with black points ; she has yellow hoofs and skin,
and her udder is rich yellow. Rosa has yellow hoofs,
but a pale skin and udder, and would be called a butter
cow inferior to Duchess, and yet she has just proved
herself one-half pound greater. The color of it is the
deepest — no coloring matter being used. This upsets
the theory that a yellow skin Is necessary for deep-
colored butter ; and loth as one is to believe it, the yel-
low skin must be looked upon as ornamental rather
than essential. Perhaps a safer way to put it is, that
though a rich yellow skin is evidence of butter quality,
yet equally good quality may come from a pale skin.
"Again, as to vertical or rear mirrors, both these
cows exhibit the broad part diminish as it rises, until,
when within six to nine inches of the vulva, it is re-
duced to the breadth of not over an inch wide. Thus
THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW. 1 3/
they agree in their rear mirrors, and they agree also in
udders of great capacity, these being deep and broad,
and running well forward under the body.
" There is a point on which they differ : the hair on
Duchess is soft and furry as a mole, that of Rosa is
fairly fine, but still hair.
*' So that in a word one can say, soft hair, a large mir-
ror and a yellow skin are desirable, but there may be
choice cows not conspicuous for either.
"To show how we sometimes let our best animals
slip, I will add diat when Rosa was a heifer I was
tempted to part with her for what seemed a great price
— ^500. In about two weeks she had a heifer calf, for
which her owner was offered $150. When three years
old she had a second heifer which he sold for ^180, and
when four years old she had a third heifer calf, which
he sold for gioo. He then sold his place and all his
stock, and I bought her at public sale for $375 for her
beauty. Her pale skin deceived me as to her butter
quality, and her, as I thought, deficient mirror misled
me as to her large yield. She now, as a five-year old,
has her fourth calf, which is a bull and some two months
old.
" In giving above her yield, I gave also her feed.
vSuch is her constitution and appetite that I think she
would have eaten half as much more, and in that way
her yield might have been very much increased. It
was good enough as it was, particularly as there have
been choice cows so forced that, though the premium
18
138 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
was won, the cow was lost. The winter yield, on dry
feed, of sixteen quarts, is considered equivalent to
eio^hteen on ofrass."
It would seem a convenient method for a purchaser
of a cow, who wished to approximate at least to the
amount of butter she would yield in a week, to arrive
at it by knowing the number of quarts of milk given in a
day ; and we have been hoping for some acknowledged
standard of estimating this. The amount of milk requi-
site to make a pound of butter varies from five to six-
teen quarts in different animals and breeds. The
amount of cream also seems to vary as much, though
this depends greatly on care in skimming. Jersey cows
usually giving one pound of butter for every six to
eight quarts of milk, very good grade cows ten to
twelve quarts, and ordinary cows twelve to sixteen
quarts.
It is universally conceded, we believe, that Jersey
and Guernsey cows' milk requires less for a pound of
butter than any other breed, circumstances being equal.
Their milk has been passed off and sold as cream.
CHAPTER VII.
THE BULL; AND ON CALVLNG.
Previously to entering upon the subject of pregnant
cows, a few observations on the bull may prove of great
advantage.
There Is a notion very prevalent that frequent bulling
of the cow will ensure a calf; experience has proved
this to be erroneous. Once Is quite sufficient; but
where the bull Is of a larger kind than the cow, the
latter should have the advantaofe of rislnof ground. On
returning home the cow should be milked and tied up
tin quiet. Cattle taken to the bull are less subject to
barrenness than those running with the bull.
For milking cows it is always advisable to have a bull
with two or three years' advantage of age, as the stock
is not then produced too large, which would probably
injure the womb and produce barrenness. The heifer
should not be taken to the bull younger than from
eighteen to twenty-one months ; and after calving, six
weeks should elapse before the cow is bulled.
When the cow Is heavy In calf — that Is, when within
about three months of the time of calving — consider-
able judgment Is required as to her condition. At this
time she should have plenty of exercise, should walk a
139
140 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
considerable distance to and from pasture, and when
there should have to get her own living, or rather to
work for her own living, if it may be so expressed, by
the feed not beinof over-abundant. Where exercise
cannot be obtained, or where the cow is kept housed or
in a very small pasture, she must be prevented from
getting too fresh by a diminution of the feeding quali-
ties of her food.
If the cow continues to give her full quantity of milk
up to a late period, there will be no danger at the time
of calving; but if she dries up too soon, she will get
too fresh to be healthy, and means must be taken to
diminish her condition, either by increasing her exercise
or diminishino^ her food. A lean cow can never come
to harm by calving, but a fat one labors much more;
and is liable to break the blood-vessels or to induce
prolapsus, frequently resulting in death.
With heifers with their second calf care should be
taken that the system be not overtaxed, and they should
therefore be allowed to go dr)^ sooner than older cows.
At no period of a cow being in calf should any putrid
or offensive matter (such as pig-tubs containing al]
manner of decayed refuse, or horse-flesh hanging up
for dogs, or dead animals in ditches or ponds) be within
her scent, for so delicate is the constitution of a cow in
this state that the mere smell of offensive effluvia is
sufficient to make her slip her calf: the same result
may be produced by her running in the same pasture
with a cow who has recently slipped her calf As the
THE JERSEY, ALDERAEY AND GUERNSEY COW. I4I
COW advances In calf she should not be allowed to pas-
ture with strange cattle, as they would be likely to fight
or push each other about, and injury to herself and the
calf might ensue : perfect quietness in this state cannot
be too much recommended.
When the period of calving arrives, the cow should
be taken in and well bedded forward, giving an easy
declivity to the hinder parts ; she should be disturbed
as little as possible, but carefully watched. Every op-
portunity should be given to Nature to act spontane-
ously, but if much difficulty appears, the assistance of a
veterinary surgeon should be obtained at once.
When this is rendered unnecessary by an easy labor,
care should be taken to remove the caul or bladder
covering the calf's head as soon as possible, to enable
it to breathe ; and immediately after the birth compel
the cow to rise, as this action restores the overstrained
parts to their proper position.
Then subdue the tendency to inflammation by imme-
diately withdrawing the milk.
In some counties an erroneous custom prevails of
giving the cow her own milk to drink just after calving,
but this is an exploded and almost superstitious custom
which should never be followed.
If the cow appears strong after calving, avoid giving
her drenches, which produce disgust and do no good.
If medicine appears necessary, let it be given under
the direction of the veterinary surgeon.
In all the numerous cases that have fallen under my
142 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW.
management, I have never had one occasion to give a
single drench. My system is to give the cow a warm
bran-mash with plenty of chilled water, not too warm,
which treatment has always proved successful.
If the cow, after calving, should not milk down well,
the udder should be fomented with warm water.
In a small practical work of this nature it would be
useless to enter at length upon the diseases of cows ; a
few hints will be much better than a dry dissertation.
No information that could be here imparted would be
of any use in the absence of experience. It will be only
necessary, therefore, to give some account of the symp-
toms that usually indicate disease either in existence or
in embryo.
The first symptom usually is the shrinking of the
milk ; the second symptom is a rough and staring ap-
pearance of the coat, hollowness of the eyes and a want
of moisture at the nose. What is called a chill is easily
discovered by pressing with the hand on the back any-
where behind the shoulders, which act Vv^ill cause the
cow to shrink if she Is not in good health.
Nothing but knowledge and experience will justify
the attempt to physic the cow without the advice of the
veterinary surgeon ; and it must be borne in mind that
the object of this lltde book is to instruct In the man-
agement of milch cows alone, and not to enter upon
the management and treatment of the various other
classes of animals.
THE JERSE Yy ALDER NE Y AND G UERNSE Y CO W. I43
SCALE OF POINTS FOR JERSEY COWS.
Adopted by the American Jersey Cattle Club, April 21, 18 y 3.
Article. Pojnts^
1. Head small, lean and rather long 2
2. Face dished, broad between the eyes, narrow between the horns i
3. Muzzle dark, encircled by a light color I
4. Eyes full and placid I
5. Horns small, crumpled, and amber color ^
6. Ears small and thin I
7. Neck straight, thin, rather long, with clean throat, not heavy at
shoulders a
8. Shoulders sloping and lean ; withers thin ; breast neither deficient nor
beefy -»
9. Back level to the setting-on of tail, and broad across the loin 4
10. Barrel hooped, broad and deep at the flank 8
11. Hips wide apart and fine in the bone; rump long and broad 4
12. Thighs long, thin and wide apart, with legs standing square, and not to
cross in walking 4
13. Legs short, small below the knees, with small hoofs , , 3
14. Tail fine, reaching the hocks, with good switch 3
15. Hide thin and mellow, with fine soft hair 4
16. Color of hide where the hair is white, on udder and inside of ears,
yellow , t
17. Fore -udder full in form, and running well forward 8
18. Hind-udder full inform, and running well up behind 8
19. Udder free from long hair, and not fleshy c
20. Teats rather large, wide apart, and squarely placed 6
21. Milk-veins prominent t
22. Escutcheon high and broad, and full on thighs 8
23. Disposition quiet and good-natured 3
24. General appearance, rather bony than fleshy 6
Perfection 100
In judging Heifers, omit Nos. 17, 18 and 21.
In judging Bulls, omit Nos. 17, 18, 19, 21, and make moderate allowance
for masculinity.
Note. — It is recommended that Judges at Fairs do not award prizes to
animals falling below the minimum standard — viz., cows, 70 counts j heifers,
55 counts; bulls, 50 counts.
144 THE JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW,
Points.
Quality of
Milk.
Quantity
and
Duration
of Flow.
Size and
Substance.
30
SCALE OF POINTS FOR GUERNSEY COWS.
{^American Gtiernsey Cattle Club.')
Counts.
Skin deep yellow, in ear, on end of bone of tail, at base of
horn, on udder teats, and body generally 20
Skin loose, mellow, with soft, fine hair 10
40
Escutcheon wide on thighs, high and broad, with thigh
ovals
Milk-veins long and prominent
Udder full in front
Udder full and well up behind
Udder large, but not fleshy
Udder teats squarely placed
Udder teats of good size
16
r Size for the breed
Not too light bone
Barrel-round, and deep at flank.
Hips and loins, wide
Rump long and broad
Thighs and withers thin
Symmetiy. 14-
Back level to setting-on of tail
Throat clean, with small dewlap
Legs not too long, with hocks well apart in walking
Tail long and thin
Horns curved and not coarse.,
Head rather long and fine, with quiet and gentle ex-
pression
General appearance
For Bulls or for Heifers, deduct 20 counts for udder.
10
6
6
8
4
4
2
5
I
4
2
2
2
3
I
2
I
2
3
2
100
THE END.
i
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