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[Illustration]
MILCH COWS
AND
DAIRY FARMING;
COMPRISING
THE BREEDS, BREEDING, AND MANAGEMENT, IN HEALTH AND DISEASE,
OF DAIRY AND OTHER STOCK, THE SELECTION OF MILCH COWS,
WITH A FULL EXPLANATION OF GUENON’S METHOD;
THE CULTURE OF FORAGE PLANTS,
AND THE PRODUCTION OF
MILK, BUTTER, AND CHEESE:
EMBODYING THE MOST RECENT IMPROVEMENTS, AND ADAPTED TO
FARMING IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRITISH PROVINCES.
WITH A TREATISE UPON THE
DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF HOLLAND;
TO WHICH IS ADDED
HORSFALL’S SYSTEM OF DAIRY MANAGEMENT.
BY CHARLES L. FLINT,
SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE; AUTHOR OF
“A TREATISE ON GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS,” ETC.
LIBERALLY ILLUSTRATED.
BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,
13 WINTER STREET.
1859.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by
CHARLES L. FLINT,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.
Stereotyped by
HOBART A ROBBINS,
New England Type and Stereotype Foundery,
BOSTON.
PRINTED BY R. M. EDWARDS.
~TO~
THE MASS. STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
THE
MASS. SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURE,
AND THE VARIOUS
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
WHOSE EFFORTS HAVE CONTRIBUTED SO LARGELY TO IMPROVE THE
DAIRY STOCK OF OUR COUNTRY
~This Treatise,~
DESIGNED TO ADVANCE THAT HIGHLY IMPORTANT INTEREST,
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE. vii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.--THE VARIOUS RACES OF PURE-BRED CATTLE
IN THE UNITED STATES. 9
The Ayrshires -- The Jersey -- The Short-horns -- The Dutch --
Herefords -- The North Devons
CHAPTER II. AMERICAN GRADE OF NATIVE CATTLE.--THE PRINCIPLES OF
BREEDING. 49
CHAPTER III. THE SELECTION OF MILCH COWS. 79
CHAPTER IV. FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY COWS. 113
Soiling -- Milking -- The Barn
CHAPTER V. THE RAISING OF CALVES. 155
CHAPTER VI. CULTURE OF GRASSES AND OTHER PLANTS RECOMMENDED FOR
FODDER. 169
Timothy grass -- June grass -- Meadow Foxtail -- Orchard grass, or
Rough Cocksfoot -- Rough-stalked Meadow grass -- Fowl Meadow grass
-- Rye grass -- Italian Rye grass -- Redtop -- English Bent -- Meadow
Fescue -- Tall Oat grass -- Sweet-scented Vernal grass -- Hungarian
grass, or Millet -- Red Clover -- White Clover -- Indian Corn --
Common Millet (Panicum miliaceum) -- Rye -- Oats -- Chinese Sugar-Cane
-- The Potato (Solanum tuberosum) -- The Carrot (Daucus carota) --
Turnip (Brassica rapa) -- Mangold Wurzel -- Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
-- Kohl Rabi (Brassica oleracea, var. caulorapa)--Linseed Meal--
Rape-Cake -- Cotton-seed Meal -- Manures
CHAPTER VII. MILK. 199
CHAPTER VIII. BUTTER AND THE BUTTER-DAIRY. 217
CHAPTER IX. THE CHEESE-DAIRY. 241
Cheshire Cheese -- Stilton Cheese -- Gloucester Cheese -- Cheddar
Cheese -- Dunlop Cheese -- Dutch Cheese -- Parmesan -- American Cheese
CHAPTER X. THE DISEASES OF DAIRY STOCK. 271
Garget -- Puerperal or Milk Fever -- Simple Fever -- Typhoid Fever --
Hoove or Hoven -- Choking -- Foul in the Foot -- Red Water -- Hoose --
Inflammation of the Glands -- Inflammation of the Lungs -- Diarrhœa --
Dysentery -- Mange -- Lice -- Warbles -- Loss of Cud -- Diseases of
Calves -- Diarrhœa, Purging, or Scours -- Constipation or Costiveness
-- Hoove -- Canker in the Mouth
CHAPTER XI. THE DAIRY HUSBANDRY OF HOLLAND. 295
Milking and Treatment of Milk. -- Determination of the Milking
Qualities of the Cows -- Treatment of Milk for Butter -- Methods of
Churning -- Churning in the Common Churn -- The Lever Churn --
Churning with an Elastic Rod -- Churning with the Treadle Lever --
Churning by Horse-power -- Duration of the Churning -- Working and
Treatment of Butter -- The Form of Fresh Butter -- The Packing of
Butter in Firkins and Barrels -- Coloring of Butter -- Use of the
Butter-milk -- The Manufacture of the different kinds of Dutch Cheese
-- Cheese-making in South Holland -- Manufacture of Sweet Milk Cheese
in South Holland -- The Use of the Whey of Sweet Milk Cheese -- May
Cheese -- Jews’ Cheese -- Council’s Cheese -- New Milk’s Cheese --
Cheese-making in North Holland -- The Utensils used in Cheese-making
in North Holland -- Variety of North Dutch Cheeses, and the Trade in
them -- Making of Edam Cheese -- The Red Color of Edam Cheese -- Use
of the Whey of the North Dutch Sweet Milk Cheese
CHAPTER XII. LETTER TO A DAIRY-WOMAN. 355
CHAPTER XIII. THE PIGGERY AS A PART OF THE DAIRY ESTABLISHMENT. 361
APPENDIX. 365
Gain or Loss of Condition ascertained by weighing Cattle Periodically
-- Richness of Milk and Cream -- Comparison of different methods of
Feeding Dairy Cows -- Quality of Butter
INDEX. 411
PREFACE.
This work is designed to embody the most recent information on the
subject of dairy farming. My aim has been to make a practically useful
book. With this view, I have treated of the several breeds of stock, the
diseases to which they are subject, the established principles of
breeding, the feeding and management of milch cows, the raising of
calves intended for the dairy, and the culture of grasses and plants to
be used as fodder.
For the chapter on the diseases of stock, I am largely indebted to Dr.
C. M. Wood, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Veterinary Medicine,
and to Dr. Geo. H. Dadd, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, both of
the Boston Veterinary Institute. If this chapter contributes anything to
promote a more humane and judicious treatment of cattle when suffering
from disease, I shall feel amply repaid for the labor bestowed upon the
whole work.
The chapter on the Dutch dairy, which I have translated from the German,
will be found to be of great practical value, as suggesting much that is
applicable to our American dairies. This chapter has never before, to my
knowledge, appeared in English.
The full and complete explanation of Guénon’s method of judging and
selecting milch cows,--a method originally regarded as theoretical, but
now generally admitted to be very useful in practice,--I have translated
from the last edition of the treatise of M. Magne, a very sensible
French writer, who has done good service to the agricultural public by
the clearness and simplicity with which he has freed that system from
its complicated details.
The work will be found to contain an account of the most enlightened
practice in this country, in the statements those actually engaged in
dairy farming; the details of the dairy husbandry of Holland, where this
branch of industry is made a specialty to greater extent, and is
consequently carried to a higher degree of perfection, than in any other
part of the world; and the most recent and productive modes of
management in English dairy farming, embracing a large amount of
practical and scientific information, not hitherto presented to the
American public in an available form.
Nothing need be said of the usefulness of a treatise on the dairy. The
number of milch cows in the country, forming so large a part of our
material wealth, and serving as a basis for the future increase and
improvement of every class of neat stock, on which the prosperity of our
agriculture mainly depends; the intrinsic value of milk as an article of
internal commerce, and as a most healthy and nutritious food; the vast
quantity of it made into butter and cheese, and used in every family;
the endless details of the management, feeding, and treatment, of dairy
stock, and the care and attention requisite to obtain from this branch
of farming the highest profit, all concur to make the want of such a
treatise, adapted to our climate and circumstances, felt not only by
practical farmers, but by a large class of consumers, who can appreciate
every improvement which may be made in preparing the products of the
dairy for their use.
The writer has had some years of practical experience in the care of a
cheese and butter dairy, to which has been added a wide range of
observation in some of the best dairy districts of the country; and it
is hoped that the work now submitted to the public will meet that degree
of favor usually accorded to an earnest effort to do something to
advance the cause of agriculture.
DAIRY FARMING
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.--THE VARIOUS RACES OF PURE-BRED CATTLE IN THE UNITED
STATES.
The milking qualities of our domestic cows are, to some extent,
artificial, the result of care and breeding. In the natural or wild
state, the cow yields only enough to nourish her offspring for a few
weeks, and then goes dry for several months, or during the greater part
of the year. There is, therefore, a constant tendency to revert to that
condition, which is prevented only by judicious treatment, designed to
develop and increase the milking qualities so valuable to the human
race. If this judicious treatment is continued through several
generations of the same family or race of animals, the qualities which
it is calculated to develop become more or less fixed, and capable of
transmission. Instead of being exceptional, or peculiar to an
individual, they become the permanent characteristics of a breed. Hence
the origin of a great variety of breeds or races, the characteristics of
each being due to local circumstances such as climate, soil, and the
special objects of the breeder, which may be the production of milk,
butter and cheese, or the raising of beef or working cattle.
A knowledge of the history of different breeds, and especially of the
dairy breeds, is of manifest importance. Though very excellent milkers
will sometimes be found in all of them, and of a great variety of forms,
the most desirable dairy qualities will generally be found to have
become fixed and permanent characteristics of some to a greater extent
than of others; but it does not follow that a race whose milking
qualities have not been developed is of less value for other purposes,
and for qualities which have been brought out with greater care. A brief
sketch of the principal breeds of American cattle, as well as of the
grades or the common stock of the country, will aid the farmer, perhaps,
in making an intelligent selection with reference to the special object
of pursuit, whether it be the dairy, the production of beef, or the
raising of cattle for work.
In a subsequent chapter on the selections of milch cows, the standard of
perfection will be discussed in detail, and the characteristics of each
of the races will naturally be measured by that. In this connection, and
as preliminary to the following sketches, it may be stated that,
whatever breed may be selected, a full supply of food and proper shelter
are absolutely essential to the maintenance of any milking stock, the
food of which goes to supply not only the ordinary waste of the system
common to all animals, but also the milk secretions, which are greater
in some than in others. A large animal on a poor pasture has to travel
much further to fill itself than a small one. A small or medium-sized
cow would return more milk in proportion to the food consumed, under
such circumstances, than a large one.
In selecting any breed, therefore, regard should be had to the
circumstances of the farmer, and the object to be pursued. The cow most
profitable for the milk-dairy may be very unprofitable in the butter
and cheese dairy, as well as for the production of beef; while for
either of the latter objects the cow which gave the largest quantity of
milk might prove very unprofitable. It is desirable to secure a union
and harmony of all good qualities, so far as possible; and the farmer
wants a cow that will milk well for some years, and then, when dry,
fatten readily, and sell to the butcher for the highest price. These
qualities, though often supposed to be incompatible, will be found to be
united in some breeds to a greater extent than in others; while some
peculiarities of form have been found, by observation, to be better
adapted to the production of milk and beef than others. This will appear
in the following pages.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Ayrshire Cow, imported and owned by Dr. Geo. B.
Loring, Salem, Mass.]
THE AYRSHIRES are justly celebrated throughout Great Britain and this
country for their excellent dairy qualities. Though the most recent in
their origin, they are pretty distinct from the other Scotch and English
races. In color, the pure Ayrshires are generally red and white,
spotted or mottled, not roan like many of the short-horns, but often
presenting a bright contrast of colors. They are sometimes, though
rarely, nearly or quite all red, and sometimes black and white; but the
favorite color is red and white brightly contrasted, and by some,
strawberry-color is preferred. The head is small, fine, and clean; the
face long, and narrow at the muzzle, with a sprightly yet generally mild
expression; eye small, smart, and lively; the horns short, fine, and
slightly twisted upwards, set wide apart at the roots; the neck thin;
body enlarging from fore to hind quarters; the back straight and narrow,
but broad across the loin; joints rather loose and open; ribs rather
flat; hind quarters rather thin; bone fine; tail long, fine and bushy at
the end; hair generally thin and soft; udder light color and capacious,
extending well forward under the belly; teats of the cow of medium size,
generally set regularly and wide apart; milk-veins prominent and well
developed. The carcass of the pure-bred Ayrshire is light, particularly
the fore quarters, which is considered by good judges as an index of
great milking qualities; but the pelvis is capacious and wide over the
hips.
On the whole, the Ayrshire is good-looking, but wants some of the
symmetry and aptitude to fatten which characterize the short-horn, which
is supposed to have contributed to build up this valuable breed on the
basis of the original stock of the county of Ayr; a county extending
along the eastern shore of the Frith of Clyde, in the south-western part
of Scotland, and divided into three districts, known as Carrick,
Cunningham, and Kyle: the first famous as the lordship of Robert Bruce,
the last for the production of this, one of the most remarkable dairy
breeds of cows in the world. The original stock of this county, which
undoubtedly formed the basis of the present Ayrshire breed, are
described by Aiton, in his _Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows_, as of
a diminutive size, ill fed, ill shaped, and yielding but a scanty return
in milk. They were mostly of a black color, with large stripes of white
along the chine and ridge of their backs, about the flanks, and on their
faces. Their horns were high and crooked, having deep ringlets at the
root,--the plainest proof that the cattle were but scantily fed; the
chine of their backs stood up high and narrow; their sides were lank,
short, and thin; their hides thick, and adhering to their bones; their
pile was coarse and open; and few of them yielded more than six or eight
quarts of milk a day when in their best plight, or weighed when fat more
than from twelve to sixteen or twenty stones avoirdupois, at eight
pounds the stone, sinking offal.
“It was impossible,” he continues, “that these cattle, fed as they then
were, could be of great weight, well shaped, or yield much milk. Their
only food in winter and spring was oat-straw, and what they could pick
up in the fields, to which they were turned out almost every day, with a
mash of weak corn and chaff daily for a few days after calving; and
their pasture in summer was of the very worst quality, and eaten so bare
that the cattle were half starved, and had the aspect of starvelings. A
wonderful change has since been made in the condition, aspect, and
qualities, of the Ayrshire dairy stock. They are not now the meagre,
unshapely animals they were about forty years ago; but have completely
changed into something as different from what they were then as any two
breeds in the island can be from each other. They are almost double the
size, and yield about four times the quantity of milk that the Ayrshire
cows then yielded. They were not of any specific breed, nor uniformity
of shapes or color; neither was there any fixed standard by which they
could be judged.”
Aiton wrote in 1815, and even then the Ayrshire cattle had been
completely changed from what they were in 1770, and had, to a
considerable extent, at least, settled down into a breed with fixed
characteristics, distinguished especially for an abundant flow and a
rich quality of milk. A large part of the improvement then manifested
was due to better feeding and care, but much, no doubt, to judicious
crossing. Strange as it may seem, considering the modern origin of this
breed, “all that is certainly known is that a century ago there was no
such breed as Cunningham or Ayrshire in Scotland. Did the Ayrshire
cattle arise entirely from a careful selection of the best native breed?
If they did, it is a circumstance unparalleled in the history of
agriculture. The native breed may be ameliorated by careful selection;
its value may be incalculably increased; some good qualities, some of
its best qualities, may be for the first time developed; but yet there
will be some resemblance to the original stock, and the more we examine
the animal the more clearly we can trace out the characteristic points
of the ancestor, although every one of them is improved.”
Aiton remembered well the time when some short-horn or Dutch cattle, as
they were then called, were procured by some gentlemen in Scotland, and
particularly by one John Dunlop, of Cunningham, who brought some Dutch
cows--doubtless short-horns--to his byres soon after the year 1760. As
they were then provided with the best of pasture, and the dairy was the
chief object of the neighborhood, these cattle soon excited attention,
and the small farmers began to raise up crosses from them. This was in
Cunningham, one of the districts of Ayrshire, and Mr. Dunlop’s were,
without doubt, among the first of the stranger breed that reached that
region. About 1750, a little previous to the above date, the Earl of
Marchmont bought of the Bishop of Durham several cows and a bull of the
Teeswater breed, all of a brown color spotted with white, and kept them
some time at his seat in Berwickshire. His lordship had extensive
estates in Kyle, another district of Ayrshire, and thither his factor,
Bruce Campbell, took some of the Teeswater breed and kept them for some
time, and their progeny spread over various parts of Ayrshire. A bull,
after serving many cows of the estates already mentioned, was sold to a
Mr. Hamilton, in another quarter of Ayrshire, and raised a numerous
offspring.
About the year 1767, also, John Orr sent from Glasgow to his estate in
Ayrshire some fine milch cows, of a much larger size than any then in
that region. One of them cost six pounds, which was more than twice the
price of the best cow in that quarter. These cows were well fed, and of
course yielded a large return of milk; and the farmers, for miles
around, were eager to get their calves to raise.
About the same time, also, a few other noblemen and gentlemen,
stimulated by example, bought cattle of the same appearance, in color
brown spotted with white, all of them larger than the native cattle of
the county, and when well fed yielding much larger quantities of milk,
and their calves were all raised. Bulls of their breed and color were
preferred to all others.
From the description given of these cattle, there is no doubt that they
were the old Teeswater, or Dutch; the foundation, also, according to the
best authorities, of the modern improved short-horns. With them and the
crosses obtained from them the whole county gradually became stocked,
and supplied the neighboring counties, by degrees, till at present the
whole region, comprising the counties of Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark,
Dumbarton, and Stirling, and more than a fourth part of the whole
population of Scotland, a large proportion of which is engaged in
manufactures and commercial or mechanical pursuits, furnishing a ready
market for milk and butter, is almost exclusively stocked with
Ayrshires.
The cross with larger cattle and the natives of Ayrshire produced, for
many years, an ugly-looking beast, and the farmers were long in finding
out that they had violated one of the plain principles of breeding in
coupling a large and small breed so indiscriminately together,
especially in the use of bulls proportionately larger than the cows to
which they were put. They did not then understand that no crosses could
be made in that way to increase the size of a race, without a
corresponding increase in the feed; and many very ill-shaped animals
were the consequence of ignorance of a natural law. They made large
bones, but they were never strong and vigorous in proportion to their
size. Trying to keep large animals on poor pasture produced the same
effect. The results of first crosses were therefore very unsatisfactory;
but gradually better feeding and a reduction in size came to their aid,
while in the course of years more enlightened views of farming led to
higher cultivation, and consequently to higher and better care and
attention to stock. The effect of crosses with the larger Teeswater or
short-horn was not so disastrous in Ayrshire as in some of the mountain
breeds, whose feed was far less, while their exposure on high and short
pastures was greater.
The climate of Ayrshire is moist and mild, and the soil rich, clayey,
and well adapted to pasturage, but difficult to till. The cattle are
naturally hardy and active, and capable of enduring severe winters, and
of easily regaining condition with the return of spring and good feed.
The pasture-land of the county is devoted to dairy stock,--chiefly for
making butter and cheese, a small part only being used for fattening
cows when too old to keep for the dairy. The breed has undergone very
marked improvements since Aiton wrote, in 1815. The local demand for
fresh dairy products has very naturally taxed the skill and judgment of
the farmers and dairy-men to the utmost, through a long course of years;
and thus the remarkable milking qualities of the Ayrshires have been
developed to such a degree that they may be said to produce a larger
quantity of rich milk and butter in proportion to the food consumed, or
the cost of production, than any other of the pure-bred races. The
owners of dairies in the county of Ayr and the neighborhood were
generally small tenants, who took charge of their stock themselves,
saving and breeding from the offspring of good milkers, and drying off
and feeding such as were found to be unprofitable for milk, for the
butcher; and thus the production of milk and butter has for many years
been the leading object with the owners of this breed, and symmetry of
form and perfection of points for any other object have been very much
disregarded, or, if regarded at all, only from this one point of
view--the production of the greatest quantity of rich milk.
The manner in which this result has been brought about may further be
seen in a remark of Aiton, who says that the Ayrshire farmers prefer
their dairy bulls according to the feminine aspect of their heads and
necks, and wish them not round behind, but broad at the hook-bones and
hips, and full in the flanks. This was more than forty years ago, and
under such circumstances, and with such care in the selection of bulls
and cows with reference to one specific object, it is not surprising
that we find a breed now wholly unsurpassed when the quantity and
quality of their produce is considered with reference to their
proportional size and the food they consume. The Ayrshire cow has been
known to produce over ten imperial gallons of good milk a day.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Ayrshire Bull “ALBERT,”
Imported and owned by the Mass. Soc. for Promoting Agriculture.]
A cow-feeder in Glasgow, selling fresh milk, is said to have realized
two hundred and fifty dollars in seven months from one good cow; and it
is stated, on high authority, that a dollar a day for six months of the
year is no uncommon income from good cows under similar circumstances,
and that seventy-five cents a day is below the average. But this implies
high and judicious feeding, of course: the average yield, on ordinary
feed, would be considerably less.
Youatt estimates the daily yield of an Ayrshire cow, for the first two
or three months after calving, at five gallons a day, on an average; for
the next three months, at three gallons; and for the next four months,
at one gallon and a half. This would be 850 gallons as the annual
average of a cow; but allowing for some unproductive cows, he estimates
the average of a dairy at 600 gallons per annum for each cow. Three
gallons and a half of the Ayrshire cow’s milk will yield one and a half
pounds of butter. He therefore reckons 257 pounds of butter, or 514
pounds of cheese, at the rate of 24 pounds to 28 gallons of milk, as the
yield of every cow, at a fair and perhaps rather low average, in an
Ayrshire dairy, during the year. Aiton sets the yield much higher,
saying that “thousands of the best Ayrshire dairy-cows, when in prime
condition and well fed, produce 1000 gallons of milk per annum; that in
general three and three quarters to four gallons of their milk will
yield a pound and a half of butter; and that 27¹⁄₂ gallons of their milk
will make 21 pounds of full-milk cheese.” Mr. Rankin puts it lower--at
about 650 to 700 gallons to each cow; on his own farm of inferior soil,
his dairy produced an average of 550 gallons only.
One of the four cows originally imported into this country by John P.
Cushing, Esq., of Massachusetts, gave in one year 3864 quarts, beer
measure, or about 966 gallons, at ten pounds to the gallon, being an
average of over ten and a half beer quarts a day for the whole year. It
is asserted, on good authority, that the first Ayrshire cow imported by
the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, in 1837,
yielded sixteen pounds of butter a week, for several weeks in
succession, on grass feed only. These yields are not so large as those
stated by Aiton; but it should, perhaps, be recollected that our climate
is less favorable to the production of milk than that of England and
Scotland, and that no cow imported after arriving at maturity could be
expected to yield as much, under the same circumstances, as one bred on
the spot where the trial is made, and perfectly acclimated.
In a series of experiments on the Earl of Chesterfield’s dairy farm, at
Bradley Ball, interesting as giving positive data on which to form a
judgment as to the yield, it was found that, in the height of the
season, the Holderness cows gave 7 gallons 1 quart per diem; the
long-horns and Alderneys, 4 gallons 3 quarts; the Devons, 4 gallons 1
quart; and that, when made into butter the above quantities gave,
respectively, 38¹⁄₂ ounces, 28 ounces, and 25 ounces.
The Ayrshire, a cow far smaller than the Holderness, at 5 gallons of
milk and 34 ounces of butter per day, gives a fair average as to yield
of milk, and an enormous production of butter, giving within 4¹⁄₂ ounces
as much from her 5 gallons as the Holderness from her 7 gallons 1 quart;
her rate being nearly 7 ounces to the gallon, while that of the
Holderness is considerably under 6 ounces.
The evidence of a large and practical dairyman is certainly of the
highest value; and in this connection it may be stated that Mr. Harley,
the author of the _Harleian Dairy System_, who established the
celebrated Willowbank Dairy, in Glasgow, and who kept, at times, from
two hundred and sixty to three hundred cows, always using the utmost
care in selection, says that he had cows, by way of experiment, from
different parts of the united kingdom. He purchased ten at one Edinburgh
market, of the large short-horned breed, at twenty pounds each, but
these did not give more milk, nor better in quality, than Ayrshire cows
that were bought at the same period for thirteen pounds a head; and, on
comparison, it was found that the latter were much cheaper kept, and
that they improved much more in beef and fat in proportion to their
size, than the high-priced cows. A decided preference was therefore
given to the improved Ayrshire breed, from seven to ten years old, and
from eight to twenty pounds a head. Prime young cows were too
high-priced for stall feeding; old cows were generally the most
profitable in the long run, especially if they were not previously in
good keeping. The cows were generally bought when near calving, which
prevented the barbarous practice called hafting, or allowing the milk to
remain upon the cow for a considerable time before she is brought to the
market. This base and cruel custom is always pernicious to the cow, and
in consequence of it she seldom recovers her milk for the season. The
middling and large sizes of cows were preferred, such as weighed from
thirty-five to fifty stone, or from five hundred to eight hundred
pounds.
According to Mr. Harley, the most approved shape and marks of a good
dairy cow are as follows: Head small, long, and narrow towards the
muzzle; horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance
from each other; eyes not large, but brisk and lively; neck slender and
long, tapering towards the head, with a little loose skin below;
shoulders and fore quarters light and thin; hind quarters large and
broad; back straight, and joints slack and open; carcass deep in the
rib; tail small and long, reaching to the heels; legs small and short,
with firm joints; udder square, but a little oblong, stretching forward,
thin-skinned and capacious, but not low hung; teats or paps small,
pointing outwards, and at a considerable distance from each other;
milk-veins capacious and prominent; skin loose, thin, and soft like a
glove; hair short, soft, and woolly; general figure, when in flesh,
handsome and well proportioned.
If this description of the Ayrshire cow be correct, it will be seen that
her head and neck are remarkably clean and fine, the latter swelling
gradually towards the shoulders, both parts being unincumbered with
superfluous flesh. The same general form extends backwards, the
forequarters being light, the shoulders thin, and the carcass swelling
out towards the hind quarters, so that standing in front of her it has
the form of a blunted wedge. Such a structure indicates very fully
developed digestive organs, which exert a powerful influence on the
exercise of all the functions of the body, and especially on the
secretion of the milky glands, accompanied with milk-veins and udder
partaking of the same character as the stomach and viscera, being large
and capacious, while the external skin and interior walls of the
milk-glands are thin and elastic, and all parts arranged in a manner
especially calculated for the production of milk.
A cow with these marks will generally be of a quiet and docile temper,
which greatly enhances her value. A cow that is of a quiet and contented
disposition feeds at ease, is milked with ease, and yields more than one
of an opposite temperament; while after she is past her usefulness as a
milker she will easily take on fat, and make fine beef and a good
quantity of tallow, because she feeds freely, and when dry the food
which went to make milk is converted into fat and flesh. But there is no
breed of cows with which gentleness of treatment is so indispensable as
with the Ayrshire, on account of her naturally nervous temperament. If
she receives other than kind and gentle treatment, she will often resent
it with angry looks and gestures, and withhold her milk; and if such
treatment is long continued, will dry up; but she willingly and easily
yields it to the hand that fondles her, and all her looks and movements
towards her friends are quiet and mild.
As already remarked, the Ayrshires in their native country are generally
bred for the dairy, and no other object; and the cows have obtained a
just and world-wide reputation for this quality. The oxen are, however,
very fitly as working cattle, though they cannot be said to excel other
breeds in this respect. The Ayrshire steer may be fed and turned at
three years old, but for feeding purposes the Ayrshires are greatly
improved by a cross with the short-horns, provided regard is had to the
size of the animals. It is the opinion of good breeders that a high-bred
short-horn bull and a large-sized Ayrshire cow will produce a calf which
will come to maturity earlier, and attain greater weight, and sell for
more money, than a pure-bred Ayrshire. This cross, with feeding from the
start, may be sold fat at two or three years old, the improvement being
especially seen in the earlier maturity and the size. Even Youatt, who
maintains that the fattening properties of the Ayrshires have been
somewhat exaggerated, admits that they will fatten kindly and
profitably, and that their meat will be good; while he also asserts that
they unite, perhaps, to a greater degree than any other breed, the
supposed incompatible qualities of yielding a great deal of milk and
beef.
In the cross with the short-horn, the form becomes ordinarily more
symmetrical, while there is, perhaps, little risk of lessening the
milking qualities of the offspring, if sufficient regard is paid to the
selection of the individual animals to breed from. It is thought by some
that in the breeding of animals it is the male which gives the external
form, or the bony and muscular system of the young, while the female
imparts the respiratory organs, the circulation of the blood, the mucous
membranes, the organs of secretion, &c.
If this principle is true, it follows that the milking qualities come
chiefly from the mother, and that the bull can not materially alter the
conditions which determine the transmission of these qualities,
especially when they are as strongly marked as they are in the Ayrshire
or the Jersey races. Others, however, maintain that it is more important
to the perfection of their dairy to make a good choice of bulls than of
heifers, because the property of giving much milk is more surely
transmitted by the male than the female. Others still maintain that both
parents are represented in the offspring, but that it is impossible to
say beforehand what parts of the derivative system are to be ascribed to
the one parent and what to the other, and that there is a blending and
interfusion of the qualities of both which prevent the body of their
progeny being mapped out into distinct regions, or divided into separate
sets of organs, of which we can say, “This is from the father, that from
the mother.”
Till this question is settled, it is safe, in breeding for the dairy, to
adhere to the rule of selecting only animals whose progenitors on both
sides have been distinguished for their milking qualities. But where the
history of either is unknown, a resort to a well-known breed, remarkable
for its dairy qualities, is of no small importance; since, though the
immediate ancestors of a male may not be known, if he belongs to a dairy
breed, it is fair to presume that his progenitors were milkers. A study
and comparison of the size and form of the milk mirror, and other
points, indicated by Guénon, on a subsequent page, are worthy of careful
consideration in selecting animals to breed from for the dairy, not only
among pure-bred animals, but especially in crossing. In the scale of
points adopted in England and this country as the standard of perfection
for an Ayrshire cow, the udder, on which Guénon placed so much reliance,
is valued at twelve times as much as that of the Devon, “because,” as
the judges affirm, “the Ayrshires have been bred almost exclusively with
reference to their milking properties.”
We must conclude, then, that “for purely dairy purposes the Ayrshire cow
deserves the first place. In consequence of her small, symmetrical, and
compact body, combined with a well-formed chest and a capacious stomach,
there is little waste, comparatively speaking, through the respiratory
system; while, at the same time, there is very complete assimilation of
the food, and thus she converts a large proportion of her food into
milk. So remarkable is this fact, that all dairy farmers who have any
experience on the point agree in stating _that an Ayrshire cow generally
gives a larger return of milk for the food consumed than a cow of any
other breed_. The absolute quantity may not be so great, but it is
obtained at a less cost; and this is the point upon which the question
of profit depends.”
I have dwelt thus at length upon this race for the reason that it is
preeminently a dairy breed, surpassing all other pure breeds in the
production of rich milk and butter on soils of medium fertility, and
admirably adapted, in my opinion, to raise the character of our stock to
a higher standard of excellence. The best milkers I have ever known, in
the course of my own observations, were grade Ayrshires, larger in size
than the pure bloods, but still sufficiently high grades to give certain
signs of their origin. I have owned several such, which were all good
cows. This grade would seem to possess the advantage of combining, to
some extent, the two qualities of milking and adaptation to beef; and
this is no small recommendation of the stock to farmers situated as
American farmers are, who wish for milk for some years and then to turn
over to the butcher.
THE JERSEY cattle have now become widely known in this country. Many of
them have been imported from an island of the same name in the British
Channel, near the coast of France, and they may now be considered, I
think, as fully acclimated. They were first introduced over thirty years
ago, from the channel islands Alderney, Guernsey, and Jersey.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Jersey Cow.[1]]
[1] See page 30.
The opinions of practical men differ widely as to the comparative merits
of this race, and its adaptation to our climate and to the wants of our
farmers. The most common decision, prevailing among many even of the
best judges of stock, appears to be, that, however desirable the cows
may be on the lawn or in a gentleman’s park, they are wholly unsuited to
the general wants of the practical farmer. This may or may not be the
case. If the farmer keeps a dairy farm and sells only milk, the quantity
and not the quality of which is his chief care, he can satisfy himself
better with some other breed. If otherwise situated,--if he devotes his
time to the making of butter for the supply of customers who are
willing to pay for a good article,--he may very properly consider
whether a few Jerseys, or an infusion of Jersey blood, may not be
desirable. Haxton calls the Jersey cow the cheese and butter dairyman’s
friend when her milk is diluted with that of ten or a dozen ordinary
cows, and his enemy if he should attempt to make either cheese or butter
solely from her produce, as, from the excessive richness of the milk,
neither will keep long; and, finally, an ornament to the rich man’s
lawn, yet in aspect altogether devoid of those rounded outlines which
constitute the criterion of animal beauty.
The Jersey race is supposed to have been derived originally from
Normandy, in the northern part of France. The cows have been long
celebrated for the production of very rich milk and cream, but till
within a quarter of a century they were comparatively coarse, ugly, and
ill-shaped. Improvements have been very marked, but the form of the
animal is still far from satisfying the eye. The head of the pure Jersey
is fine and tapering, the cheek small, the throat clean, the muzzle fine
and encircled with a light stripe, the nostril high and open; the horns
smooth, crumpled, not very thick at the base, tapering, and tipped with
black; ears small and thin, deep orange color inside; eyes full and
placid; neck straight and fine; chest broad and deep; barrel hooped,
broad and deep, well ribbed up; back straight from the withers to the
hip, and from the top of the hip to the setting on of the tail; tail
fine, at right angles with the back, and hanging down to the hocks; skin
thin, light color and mellow, covered with fine soft hair; fore legs
short, straight and fine below the knee, arm swelling and full above;
hind quarters long and well filled; hind legs short and straight below
the hocks, with bones rather fine, squarely placed, and not too close
together; hoofs small; udder full in size, in line with the belly,
extending well up behind; teats of medium size, squarely placed and wide
apart, and milk-veins very prominent. The color is generally cream, dun,
or yellow, with more or less white, and the fine head and neck give the
cows and heifers a fawn-like appearance, and make them objects of
attraction in the park; but the hind quarters are often too narrow to
look well, particularly to those who judge animals from the amount of
fat they carry. We should bear in mind, however, that a good race of
animals is not always the most beautiful, as that term is commonly
understood. Beauty in stock has no fixed standard. In the estimation of
some, it results mainly from fine forms, small bones, and close, compact
frames; while others consider that structure the most perfect, and
therefore the most beautiful, which is best adapted to the use to which
it is destined. According to the latter, beauty is relative. It is not
the same in an animal designed for beef and in one designed fer the
dairy or for work. The beauty of a milch cow is the result of her good
qualities. Large milkers are very rarely cows that please the eye of any
but a skilful judge. They are generally poor, because their food goes
mainly to the production of milk, and because they are selected with
less regard to form than to good milking qualities. We meet with good
milkers of all forms, from the round, close-built Devon to the
coarsest-boned scrub; but, with all their varieties of form and
structure, good cows will usually possess certain points of similarity
and well-known marks by which they are known to the eyes of the judge.
It is asserted by Colonel Le Couteur, of the island of Jersey, that,
contrary to the general opinion here, the Jersey cow, when old and no
longer wanted as a milker, will, when dry and fed, fatten rapidly, and
produce a good quantity and excellent quality of butcher’s meat. An old
cow, he says, was put up to fatten in October, 1850, weighing 1125
pounds, and when killed, the 6th of January, 1851, she weighed 1330
pounds; having gained 205 pounds in ninety-eight days, on twenty pounds
of hay, a little wheat-straw, and thirty pounds of roots, consisting of
carrots, Swedes, and marigold wurzel, a day. The prevailing opinion as
to the beauty of the Jersey is based on the general appearance of the
cow in milk, no experiments in feeding exclusively for beef having been
made, to my knowledge, and no opportunity to form a correct judgment
from actual observation having been furnished; and it must be confessed
that the general appearance would amply justify the hasty conclusion.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Jersey Bull.]
The bulls are usually very different in character and disposition from
the cows, and are much inclined to become restive and cross at the age
of two or three years, unless their treatment is uniformly gentle and
firm. The accompanying figure very accurately represents one of the best
animals of the race in the vicinity of Boston, which has been pronounced
by good judges a model of a bull for a dairy breed.
The beautiful Jersey cow “Flirt,” figured on page 26, received the first
prize at the Fair of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture in
1857, which brought together the largest and finest collection of Jersey
cattle ever made in this country. She is well-shaped, and a very
superior dairy cow. Her dam, Flora, was very remarkable for the richness
of her milk and the quantity of her butter, having made no less than
five hundred and eleven pounds in one year, without extra feeding.
From what has been said it is evident that the Jersey is to be regarded
as a dairy breed, and that almost exclusively. It is evident, too, that
it would not be sought for large dairies kept for the supply of milk to
cities; for, though the quality would gratify the customer, the quantity
would not satisfy the owner. The place of the Jersey cow is rather in
private establishments, where the supply of cream and butter is a
sufficient object, or, in limited numbers, to add richness to the milk
of large butter dairies. Even one or two good Jersey cows with a herd of
fifteen or twenty, will make a great difference in the quality of the
milk and butter of the whole establishment; and they would probably be
profitable for this, if for no other object.
* * * * *
Other breeds are somewhat noted in Great Britain for their excellent
dairy qualities, and among them might be named the Yorkshire and the
Kerry; but they have never been introduced into this country to any
extent; or, if they ever were, no traces of them as a distinct breed can
now be found here.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Short-horn Cow]
THE SHORT-HORNS.--No breed of horned cattle has commanded more universal
admiration during the last half-century than the improved Short-horns,
whose origin can be traced back for nearly a hundred years. According to
the best authorities, the stock which formed the basis of improvement
existed equally in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, and counties
adjoining; and the preëminence was accorded to Durham, which gave its
name to the race, from the more correct principles of breeding which
seem to have prevailed there.
There is a dispute among the most eminent breeders as to how far it owes
its origin to early importations from Holland, whence many superior
animals were brought for the purpose of improving the old long-horned
breed. A large race of cattle had existed for many years on the western
shores of the continent of Europe. At a very early date, as early as
1633, they were imported from Denmark into New England in considerable
numbers, and thus laid the foundation of a valuable stock in this
country. They extended along the coast, it is said, through Holland to
France. The dairy formed a prominent branch of farming at a very early
date in Holland, and experience led to the greatest care in the choice
and breeding of dairy stock. From these cattle many selections were made
to cross over to the counties of York and Durham. The prevailing color
of the large Dutch cattle was black and white, beautifully contrasted.
The cattle produced by these crosses a century ago were known under the
name of “Dutch.” The cows selected for crossing with the early imported
Dutch bulls were generally long-horned, large-boned, coarse animals, a
fair type of which was found in the old “Holderness” breed of
Yorkshire,--slow feeders, strong in the shoulder, defective in the fore
quarter, and not very profitable for the butcher, their meat being
“coarse to the palate and uninviting to the eye.” Their milking
qualities were good, surpassing, probably, those of the improved
short-horns. Whatever may be the truth with regard to these crosses, and
however far they proved effective in creating or laying the foundation
of the modern improved short-horns, the results of the efforts made in
Yorkshire and some of the adjoining counties were never so satisfactory
to the best judges as those of the breeders along the Tees, who selected
animals with greater reference to fineness of bone and symmetry of form,
and the animals they bred soon took the lead, and excited great
emulation in improvement.
The famous bull “Hubback,” bred by Mr. Turner, of Hurworth, and
subsequently owned by Mr. Colling, laid the foundation of the celebrity
of the short-horns, and it is the pride of short-horn breeders to trace
back to him. He was calved in 1777, and his descendants, Foljambe,
Bolingbroke, Favorite, and Comet, permanently fixed the characteristics
of the breed. Comet was so highly esteemed among breeders, that he sold
at one thousand guineas, or over five thousand dollars. Hubback is
thought by some to have been a pure short-horn, and by others a grade or
mixture.
Many breeders had labored long previous to the brothers Charles and
Robert Colling, especially on the old Teeswater short-horns; yet a large
share of the credit of improving and establishing the reputation of the
improved short-horns is generally accorded to the Collings. Certain it
is that the spirit and discrimination with which they selected and bred
soon became known, and a general interest was awakened in the breed at
the time of the sale of Charles Colling’s herd, October 11, 1810. It was
then that Mr. Bates, of Kirkleavington, purchased the celebrated heifer
Duchess I., whose family sold, in 1850, after his decease, at an average
of one hundred and sixteen pounds five shillings per head, including
young calves. Many representatives of the Duchess family, which laid the
foundation of Mr. Bates’ success as a breeder, have been brought to this
country. They may, perhaps, be regarded as an exception to the modern
improved short-horns, their milking qualities being generally very
superior.
The sale referred to, and those of R. Colling’s herd, in 1818, and that
of Lord Spencer, in 1846, as well as that of the Kirkleavington herd, in
1850, and especially that of the herd of Lord Ducie, two years later,
are marked eras in the history of improved short-horns; and through
these sales, and the universal enthusiasm awakened by them, the
short-horns have become more widely spread ever Great Britain, and more
generally fashionable, than any other breed. They have also been
largely introduced into France by the government, for the improvement
of the various French breeds by crossing, and into nearly every quarter
of the civilized world.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Short-horn Bull “DOUBLE DUKE,” (1451¹⁄₂ Am. H.
Book,)
Owned by Harvest Club, Springfield.]
Importations have been frequent and extensive into the United States
within the last few years, and this famous breed is now pretty generally
diffused over the country.
The use of the early-imported short-horn bulls and native cows led to
the formation of many families of grades, some of them bred back to the
sire, and others crossed high up, which have attained a very
considerable local reputation in many sections. As instances of this,
may be mentioned the Creampot stock, obtained by Col. Jaques from a
short-horn bull, Cœlebs, and a superior native cow. A family of fine
milkers still exists in Massachusetts, known by the name of the “Sukey
breed,” supposed to have been derived from “Denton,” a very superior
animal imported by Mr. Williams, of Northboro’, some forty years ago.
Many of the best milkers of that section can be traced back to him. The
Patton stock, originally imported into Maryland and Virginia, in 1783,
and thence to Kentucky, may be classed in the same category. A part of
these were at first known as the “milk breed,” and others as the “beef
breed:” the first short-horns, at that time good milkers, and the latter
long-horns, of large size and coarse in the bone. In Kentucky they were
all known as the Patton stock.
The high-bred short-horn is easily prepared for a show, and, as fat will
cover faults, the temptation is often too great to be resisted; and
hence it is common to see the finest animals rendered unfit for breeding
purposes by over-feeding. The race is susceptible of breeding for the
production of milk, as several families show, and great milkers have
often been known among pure-bred animals; but it is more common to find
it bred mainly for the butcher, and kept accordingly. It is, however, a
well-known fact that the dairies of London are stocked chiefly with
short-horns and Yorkshires, or high grades between them, which, after
being milked as long as profitable, feed equal, or nearly so, to
pure-bred short-horns.
It has been said, by very high authority, that “the short-horns improve
every breed they cross with.”
The desirable characteristics of the short-horn bull may be summed up,
according to the judgment of the best breeders, as follows: He should
have a short but fine head, very broad across the eyes, tapering to the
nose, with a nostril full and prominent; the nose itself should be of a
rich flesh-color; eyes bright and mild; ears somewhat large and thin;
horns slightly curved and rather flat, well set on a long, broad,
muscular neck; chest wide, deep, and projecting; shoulders fine,
oblique, well formed into the chine; fore legs short, with upper arm
large and powerful; barrel round, deep, well ribbed home; hips wide and
level; back straight from the withers to the setting on of the tail, but
short from hip to chine; skin soft and velvety to the touch; moderately
thick hair, plentiful, soft, and mossy. The cow has the same points in
the main, but her head is finer, longer, and more tapering, neck thinner
and lighter, and shoulders more narrow across the chine.
The astonishing precocity of the short-horns, their remarkable aptitude
to fatten, the perfection of their forms, and the fineness of their bony
structure, give them an advantage over most other races when the object
of breeding is for the shambles. No animal of any other breed can so
rapidly transform the stock of any section around him as the improved
short-horn bull.
But it does not follow that the high-bred short-horns are
unexceptionable even for beef. The very exaggeration, so to speak, of
the qualities which make them so valuable for the improvement of other
and less perfect races, may become a fault when wanted for the table.
The very rapidity with which they increase in size is thought by some to
prevent their meat from ripening up sufficiently before being hurried
off to the butcher. The disproportion of the fatty to the muscular
flesh, found in this to a greater extent than in races coming slower to
maturity, makes the meat of the thorough-bred short-horn, in the
estimation of some, both less agreeable to the taste and less profitable
to the consumer, since the nitrogenous compounds, true sources of
nutriment, are found in less quantity than in the meat of animals not so
highly bred.
But the improved short-horn is justly unrivalled for symmetry of form
and beauty. I have never seen a picture or an engraving of an animal
which gave an adequate idea of the beauty of many specimens of this
race, especially of the best bred in Kentucky and Ohio, where many
excellent breeders, favored by a climate and pastures eminently adapted
to bring the short-horn to perfection, have not only imported
extensively from the best herds in England, but have themselves attained
a degree of knowledge and skill equalled only by that of the most
celebrated breeders in the native country of this improved race.
In sections where the climate is moist and the food abundant and rich,
some families of the short-horns may be valuable for the dairy; but they
are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in
sections where they have attained the highest perfection of form and
beauty so little is thought of their milking qualities that they are
often not milked at all, the calf being allowed to run with the dam.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Imported Dutch Cow.]
THE DUTCH is a short-horned race of cattle, which, in the opinion of
many, as I have already remarked, contributed largely, about a century
ago, to build up the Durham or Teeswater stock. It has been bred with
special reference to dairy qualities, and is eminently adapted to supply
the wants of the dairy farmer.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Imported Dutch Bull.]
The cow, Fig. 7, was bred in North Holland, and imported by Winthrop W.
Chenery, Esq., of Watertown, in 1857. The bull, Fig. 8, was also
imported by Mr. Chenery at the same time, from near the Beemster, in the
northerly part of Purmerend. Both animals are truthfully delineated, and
give a correct idea of the points of the North Dutch cattle. For a more
detailed description of this celebrated dairy race, see pages 51 and
301.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Hereford Cow.]
HEREFORDS.--The Hereford cattle derive their name from a county in the
western part of England. Their general characteristics are a white face,
sometimes mottled; white throat, the white generally extending back on
the neck, and sometimes, though rarely, still further along on the back.
The color of the rest of the body is red, generally dark, but sometimes
light. Eighty years ago the best Hereford cattle were mottled or roan
all over; and some of the best herds, down to a comparatively recent
period, were either all mottled, or had the mottled or speckled face.
The expression of the face is mild and lively; the forehead open, broad,
and large; the eyes bright and full of vivacity; the horns glossy,
slender, and spreading; the head small, though larger and not quite so
clean as that of the Devons; the lower jaw fine; neck long and slender;
chest deep; breast-bone large, prominent, and very muscular; the
shoulder-blade light; shoulder full and soft; brisket and loins large;
hips well developed, and on a level with the chine; hind quarters long
and well filled in; buttocks on a level with the back, neither falling
off nor raised above the hind quarters; tail slender, well set on; hair
fine and soft; body round and full; carcass deep and well formed, or
cylindrical; bone small; thigh short and well made; legs short and
straight, and slender below the knee; as handlers very excellent,
especially mellow to the touch on the back, the shoulder, and along the
sides, the skin being soft, flexible, of medium thickness, rolling on
the neck and the hips; hair bright; face almost bare, which is
characteristic of pure-bred Herefords. They belong to the middle-horned
division of the cattle of Great Britain, to which they are indigenous.
They have been improved within the last century by careful selections,
the first step to this end having been taken by Benjamin Tomkins, of
Herefordshire, who began about 1766, with two cows possessing a
remarkable tendency to take on fat. One of these was gray, and the other
dark red, with a mottled or spotted face.
Taking these as a foundation, Mr. Tomkins went on to build up a large
herd, from which he sold to other breeders, from time to time, till at
his decease, in 1819, the whole herd was disposed of at
auction--fifty-two animals, including twenty-two steers and two heifers,
varying in age from calves to two-year-olds, bringing an aggregate of
four thousand six hundred and seventy-three pounds, fourteen shillings,
or four hundred and forty-five dollars, thirty-seven and a half cents, a
head. A bull was sold to Lord Talbot for five hundred and eighty-eight
pounds, while several cows brought from a thousand to twelve hundred
dollars a head.
Hereford oxen are excellent animals, less active but stronger than the
Devons, and very free and docile. The demand for Herefords for beef
prevents their being much used for work in their native county, and the
farmers there generally use horses instead of oxen. A recent writer in
the _Farmer’s Magazine_ makes the following remarks on this head: “It is
allowed on all hands, I believe, that the properties in which Herefords
stand preëminent among the middle-sized breeds are in the production of
oxen and their superiority of flesh. On these points there is little
chance of their being excelled. It should, however, be borne in mind
that the best oxen are not produced from the largest cows; nor is a
superior quality of flesh, such as is considered very soft to the touch,
with thin skin. It is the union of these two qualities which often
characterizes the short-horns; but the Hereford breeders should endeavor
to maintain a higher standard of excellence,--that for which the best of
the breed have always been esteemed,--a moderately thick, mellow hide,
with a well-apportioned combination of softness with elasticity. A
sufficiency of hair is also desirable, and if accompanied with a
disposition to curl moderately it is more in esteem: but that which has
a harsh and wiry feel is objectionable.”
[Illustration: Fig. 10. Hereford Bull.]
In point of symmetry and beauty of form, the well-bred Herefords may be
classed with the improved short-horns, though they arrive somewhat
slower at maturity, and never attain such weight. Like the improved
short-horns, they are chiefly bred for beef, and their beef is of the
best quality in the English markets, commanding the highest price of
any, except, perhaps, the West Highlanders.
In an experiment carefully tried in 1828, for the purpose of arriving at
the comparative economy of the short-horns and Herefords, the latter
gained less by nearly one fourth than the former, which had consumed
more food. The six animals, three of each breed, were sold after being
fed, in Smithfield market, the Herefords bringing less by only about
five dollars than the short-horns, while the cost of food consumed by
the latter was greater, and the original purchase greater than that of
the former.
The short-horn produces more beef at the same age than the Hereford, but
consumes more food in proportion. “In all the fairs of England,” says
Hillyard, “except those of Herefordshire and the adjoining counties,
short-horn heifers are more sought after and sell at higher prices than
the Hereford; but it is not so with fat cattle, for, with the exception
of Lincolnshire and some of the northern counties, they much prefer the
Herefords. Then at Smithfield, where the quality of the beef passes its
final judgment, the pound of Hereford beef pays better than the pound of
short-horn beef. Short-horn beeves produce at the same age a greater
weight, it is true, but they also consume more food. I can easily
conceive why, in the magnificent pastures of Lincolnshire, and some of
the northern counties of England, they may prefer the short-horns; and
that is, that they may keep a less number on a given quantity of land,
and only the short-horn could, under these conditions, produce a greater
weight of beef per acre. It is very difficult to decide which of the two
races in England (the two best in the world) is the most profitable for
stock-raisers and for the community.” There are, even in Lincolnshire,
many good feeders who prefer the Herefords to the short-horns. One of
these, when visited the past season, had thirty head of cattle feeding
for the butcher, and only one short-horn. When asked the reason of this,
he replied, “I am a farmer myself, and have to pay high rent, and I must
feed the cattle that pay me best. Perhaps you think it would be more in
fashion to cover my fields with short-horns; but I must look to the net
profit, and I get much better with the Herefords. The short-horns are
too full of fat and make too little tallow, and they consequently sell
too low in the Smithfield market. Our Herefords are better, and they
sell better.”
The Herefords are far less generally spread over England than the
improved short-horns. They have seldom been bred for milk, as some
families of the short-horns have; and it is not very unusual to find
pure-bred cows incapable of supplying milk sufficient to nourish their
calves. This system was pursued especially by Mr. Price, a skilful
Hereford breeder, who sacrified everything to form, disregarding milking
properties, breeding often from near relations, and thus fixing the
fault incident to his system more or less permanently in the descendants
of his stock.
The Herefords have been brought to this country, to some extent, and
several fine herds exist in different sections; the earliest
importations being those of Henry Clay, of Kentucky, in 1817. The
figures of the two animals of this breed presented in this connection
represent a bull and cow bred at the State Farm, in Massachusetts, and
are good specimens of the breed.
The want of care and attention to the udder, soon after calving,
especially if the cow be on luxuriant grass, often injures her milking
properties exceedingly. The practice in the county of Hereford has
generally been to let the calves suckle from four to six months, and
bull-calves often run eight months with the cow. But their dairy
qualities are perhaps as good as those of any cattle whose fattening
properties have been so carefully developed; and, though it is probable
that they could be bred for milk by proper care and attention, yet, as
this change would be at the sacrifice of other qualities equally
valuable, it would evidently be wiser to resort to other stock for the
dairy.
[Illustration: Fig 11. Devon Cow.
Owned by William Buckminster Esq., Framingham Mass.]
THE NORTH DEVONS.--The last of the pure-bred races which it will be
necessary to describe as prominent among our American cattle is the
Devon, a middle-horned breed, now very generally distributed in some
sections of the country.
This beautiful race of cattle dates further back than any
well-established breed among us. It goes generally under the simple name
of Devon; but the cattle of the southern part of the county, from which
the race derives its name, differ somewhat from those of the northern,
having a larger and coarser frame, and far less tendency to fatten,
though their dairy qualities are superior.
The North Devons are remarkable for hardihood, symmetry, and beauty, and
are generally bred for work and for beef rather than for the dairy. The
head is fine and well set on; the horns of medium length, generally
curved; color usually bright blood-red, but sometimes inclining to
yellow; skin thin and orange-yellow; hair of medium length, soft and
silky, making the animals remarkable as handlers; muzzle of the nose
white; eyes full and mild; ears yellowish, or orange color inside, of
moderate size; neck rather long, with little dewlap; shoulders oblique;
legs small and straight, and feet in proportion; chest of good width;
ribs round and expanded; loins of first-rate quality, long, wide, and
fleshy; hips round, of medium width; rump level; tail full near the
setting on, tapering to the tip; thighs of the bull and ox muscular and
full, and high in the flank, though in the cow sometimes thought to be
too light; the size medium, generally called small. The proportion of
meat on the valuable parts is greater, and the offal less, than on most
other breeds, while it is well settled that they consume less food in
its production. The Devons are popular with the Smithfield butchers, and
their beef is well marbled or grained.
As working oxen, the Devons perhaps excel all other races in quickness,
docility, and beauty, and the ease with which they are matched. With a
reasonable load, they are said to be equal to horses as walkers on the
road, and when they are no longer wanted for work they fatten easily and
turn well.
As milkers, they do not excel, perhaps they may be said not to equal,
the other breeds, and they have a reputation of being decidedly below
the average. In their native country the general average of a dairy is
one pound of butter per day during the summer.
They are bred for beef and for work, and not for the dairy; and their
yield of milk is small, though of a rich quality. I have, however, had
occasion to examine several animals from the celebrated Patterson herd,
which would have been remarkable as milkers even among good milking
stock. They had not, to be sure, the beautiful symmetry of form and
fineness of bone which characterize most of the modern and highly
improved pure-bred North Devons, and had evidently been bred for many
years with special reference to the development of the milking
qualities, great care having been taken to use bulls and cows as
breeders from the best milking stock, rather than of the finest forms.
The use of bulls distinguished only for symmetry of form, and of a race
deficient in milk-secreting qualities, will be sure to deteriorate,
instead of improving, the stock for the dairy.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Devon Bull.]
On the whole, whatever may be our judgment of this breed, the faults of
the North Devon cow can hardly be overlooked from our present point of
view. The rotundity of form and compactness of frame, though they
contribute to her remarkable beauty, constitute an objection to her as
a dairy cow, since it is generally thought that the peculiarity of form
which disposes an animal to take on fat is somewhat incompatible with
good milking qualities, and hence Youatt says: “For the dairy the North
Devons must be acknowledged to be inferior to several other breeds. The
milk is good, and yields more than the average proportion of cream and
butter; but it is deficient in quantity.” He also maintains that its
property as a milker could not be improved without probable or certain
detriment to its grazing qualities.
But the fairest test of its fitness for the dairy is to be found in the
estimation in which distinguished Devon breeders themselves have held it
in this respect. A scale of points of excellence in this breed was
established, some time ago, by the best judges in England; and it has
since been adopted, with but slight changes, in this country. These
judges, naturally prejudiced in favor of the breed, if prejudiced at
all, made this scale to embrace one hundred points, no animal to be
regarded as perfect unless it excelled in all of them. Each part of the
body was assigned its real value in the scale: a faultless head, for
instance, was estimated at four; a deep, round chest, at fifteen, &c. If
the animal was defective in any part, the number of points which
represented the value of that part in the scale was to be deducted pro
rata from the hundred, in determining its merits. But in this scale the
cow is so lightly esteemed for the dairy, that the udder, the size and
shape of which is of the utmost consequence in determining the capacity
of the milch cow, is set down as worth only _one point_, while, in the
same scale, the horns and ears are valued at two points each, and the
color of the nose, and the expression of the eye, are valued at four
points each. Supposing, therefore, that each of these points were
valued at one dollar, and a perfect North Devon cow was valued at one
hundred dollars; then another cow of the same blood, and equal to the
first in every respect except in her udder, which is such as to make it
certain that she can never be capable of giving milk enough to nourish
her calf, must be worth, according to the estimation of the best Devon
breeders, ninety-nine dollars! It is safe, therefore, to say that an
animal whose udder and lacteal glands are regarded, by those who best
know her capacities and her merits, as of only one quarter part as much
consequence as the color of her nose, or half as much as the shape and
size of her horns, cannot be recommended for the dairy. The improved
North Devon cow may be classed, in this respect, with the Hereford,
neither of which has well-developed milk-vessels--a point of the utmost
consequence to the practical dairyman.
* * * * *
The list of pure-bred races in America may be said to end here; for,
though other and well-established breeds, like the long-horns, the
Galloways, the Spanish, &c., have, at times, been imported, and have had
some influence on our American stock, they have not been kept distinct
to such an extent as to have become the prevailing stock of any
particular section, so far as I am aware, and hence a notice of them
properly comes in the next chapter.