GUERNSEY CATTLE.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14829, 21 November 1913, Page 14

GUERNSEY CATTLE.

■■■\s Guernsey catUe.wffl bo shown tins week at. tho Canterbury A. and_ 1. Association's show for the first time, some information concerning the breed will ho of interest. It is taken from tho impressions formed /by an .Amentum air F. G: HacKay, who recently visited Guernsey and supplied the information to "Hoard'a Dairyman. .He | *ays ho was struck with the variation in the type of the animal on different farms and-in tho hands of the various breeders. Some seem to have kept most prominently before them the production of an animal beautiful in form, but in their efforts to attain this, their ideal, havo sacrificed considerably in size. Others have held size to be the n-.ost important feature and 1 have eucoeeded in- producing » very, much larger, but rougher animal, cows which will produce steers capable of dressing 10001b of beef. Between these two «strcmea there ■ are various graduations, and crosses. Milk-producing qualities J are held to bo of great importance in all. At the cattle -chows the dam of ■any bull exhibited, if on the island, has to'bo-shown at the same time. The dam of a bull .having been ; tested for milk and butter-fat production, a certincate of such test is taken into consideration in awarding prizes. It may seem strange, but nevertheless is a fact, that there are no ofucjal records of niilk or butter-fat production in existence in Guernsey. The longevity and •prolificacy of some " cows • was ■ very noticeable. Mr MacKay says he saw a cow twenty years old, and ehe was in calf at the-time. Another nineteen-year-old cow had had fifteen calves, and he was told of a cow twentythreo years old which • had given birth to twenty calves. . Tho housiug of cattle in Guernsey is not considered as important a matter* as it-is in colder countries. 'Cattle are kept in at night during cold, wot weather, but are put out to'grassifor at least a part of almost every day during the year. Some of the stables are ■ quite modern and up-to-date";, others are old, dark, and very badly ventilated. Some of the tattlo have their _ tails and flanks washed and their.. . bodies groomed ilaily. , "When .in full milk the •best cows aro • milked thrice •laily. Tho most progressive dairymen lay in a supply of hay and roots for winter feeding.and purchase in addition bran and otheV mill products. Some ;iro also weighing daily and keeping jirivate records of the milk production of their cows. Tho number of cattle that can bo kopt on the island has reached the maximum, and breeders look to outside buyers, to take tbeir s-urplus stock. Of the animals cxporjt«d, the vast majority i$ «mt to America. At the. time of Mr MacKay's visit four prominent American importers were on tho island and expected to take away over four hundred animals. Numbws of bulls are sold annually to English dairymen and are crossed on tho common cattle with the object of improving them. The total nnmber of pedigreed animals in Guernsey, although' constantly varying, was said to" bo only about 4000. Last year about 1000 females and 300 males "were registered in th* Herd Book. No doubt a lot- pf interest will be taken in the ifK-cinKMis of tho breed which will bo aeon on the show grounds this week, .and they should prove a very valuable addition to the dairy stock of the T>c»minion. •