THE AGE OF COWS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1307, 9 December 1911, Page 8

THE AGE OF COWS.

KEEP THE GOOD ONES. A dairy farmer has often to decide whether or not lie should keep his cows —individually or collectively—till they are old, or sell them off ' moderately young. There are several points to bo considered regarding -the matter.' Commercially a cow should be got rid of as soon as:she (roes down in'actual vicld so as not to pay for her keep, wh*ile bad milkers should be got rid of as soon as possible at any age; but a cow that has been, an exceptional milker in her prime may be worth keeping long after her best days just for breeding, purnoses, on • the,chance that she may breed heifers lute herself. Wo havo no guarantee that a good cow will yield good milking heifors bnt we are pretty certain a bad cow will not, so tho good ones should be kept as long as possible. Mr. Primrose M'Connell writes in "The Dairy" that he has. kept special ones till they were fourteen or fifteen years old because of their milking and breeding power, though they were of little value then to go to the butcher, but the ultimate loss on an old animal is nothing to tho possible gain in milk and a strain of good cow calves. In an ordinary way a-cow should be sold at her ninth or tenth veer of ago. She is passing her top yield in milk, and is still worth a good "sum for beef if in good condition, but there are many exceptions lo this rule, and illhealth may knock off an animal at any atfe. There is no reason to believo that tho calves produced lato in life will bo inferior, and there is no conclusive evidence that tho milk of an'old cow is any poorer than that of a young one, while if a young bull is used the balance will j bo kept. . The famous old Guernsey cow Dootor, belonging to Captain SmithNeil, and exhibited at the London Dairy Show up to the age of twentv-five. years is an example of what is possible in tho keeping of good cows profitably to a great age.