THE JERSEY COW.

Shannon News, 4 December 1923, Page 4

THE JERSEY COW.

LEVIN BREEDERS' CLUB DEMON- I STRATION. . The Levin Jersey Breeders' Club held \ its first demonstration on Saturday; at the farm of Mr 8,. L. Horn, Kuku. The demonstration, was given by Mr C. E. Robertson, of Wellington, Messrs Wright, v Stephenson and Co.'s pedigree stock expert. There Was a large attendance and the beautiful weather combined with the hospitable welcome Mr Horn accorded his guests made the afternoon of pleasure as well as, profit. Afternoon tea, served in the shade of a picturesque patch of native bush, was much, lenjoyed. Prior -to; Robertson's arrival by car from, Wellingtons a tour of inspection of Mr Horn's fine herd of. pedigree Jerseys interested the guests. Altogether the Club had Cause for much gratification as to its first field day, which was Votasli by all a pronounced success. * . .

In opening his y address Mr Robertson said that much wias heard of the perfect cow, but so. far no sdoh thing existed. Breeders in concentrating on the improvement of one point lost In another. What was wanted was the economical cow. Dairying, which was,now a highly specialised industry, demanded a cow with plenty of size and middle, clean out in general appearance and (, wedgy" hi shape. Breeders knew that .28 points were, awarded by judges for the milk vessel.and therefore many concentrated upon it.. In his opinion the head was the. main point in the;animal—the business end —and there was a great deal to studyj in it. A clean cut-head Was a sign of intelligence, a thing of grea,t importance. This might seem far' fetched to some, but it should be remembered that they wanted a cow which would respond to good care ahd treatment. Width, between the eyes and length from the eye to the top; of the poll meant ia good brain.. The brain controlled the nervous system and the nervous system was particularly developed throughout the dairy '■ cow. They must look in the head for what was called "dairy temperament." This was indicated in many Ways. One Was in a full, bright prominent eye. Then there was a great deal! in the general appearance of a cow. Take a well-treated herd in a paddock. When one approached, some of the animals would have their heads up, on the alert but not frightened, and would observe everything that went on. Otlhers would take no notice of anything- and others again would be soared. The was the one which displayed the dairy temperament. There should' be plenty of length between the eye ;and the nose; they did not want a square head. Neatness could and bad been overdone. Too much attention had been Hven to fancy points. In. the past Ayrshire breeders had gone in for nealt made cows with the result that the breed's dairying reputation had been destroyed. ■' Tliere was.- a tendency among ia certain school of Jersey 'breeders to do the same thing. Trie Ayrshire breeders among other thing had bred for what they called fineness of bone and had starved their Calves to get it, Fine bone really meant starved calf bone was not fine at all. -.lt had not the strength, the hardness, the steel,- in it. The "great essential to go for was development and the men who were at the top in dairying to.day were those who made a tip-top job of their, calveg.

Returning/to the head of his subject, Mr Robertson pointed out the value of a well distended nostril to take in oxygen. Investigation had shown that all cows breathed at the s-ame rate, so it was clear that the best cow must have a wide nostril to take in an extra supply of air. The mouth' should be wide; an undershot mouth Was the /worst thing a cow could have for she was apt to _go wrong through a weak constitution. The next indication of a good constitution wa.s a well sprung fore rib. Again she did not want to be "pinched in the heart" and there should be a wide floor to the. chest.

Passing' from constitution to qapacity Mr Robertson stressed the need for depth, breadth and length in the body. Nature had provided the dairy cow with a bowed rear rib to carry the greater capacity in the under line. Depth was better titan length because the dairy cow had a great deal to carry owing to her heavy eating and then an additional load when she was carrying a calf. Therefore a strong back was as) important in her as in a saddle horse. A dull eye meant a sluggish digestion. The skin was another indication of the animal's quality. A fine skini was too often referred to as a. thini skin, which wa& quite another, and an undesirable, feature. What was to be desired Was a skin fine in texture but also heavy. In a cow in perfect milking condition; the whole skin would ripple when a handful was pinched up. Regarding the mammary; system the old idea that the milk was made in the body and carried to the udder by the "milk veins" was exploded. It had been found by the Americans .when thfey had put twitches on the veins that the cow gave her milk jusit the same-. In. the beef cow. the veining system was" on the top line, but in the dairy cow it was quite different, the blood being carried! down to the udder with great force. All dairy cows—it did riot matter 0 f what breed—had greatly developed veins Under the floor of the abdomen. Even though these might not be visible to the eye they must be there if the cow was going to do good work. Width and length Were what was warned in the udder, which should be well caught forward ,and well attached behind. Thlei legs should be thin and arched and set well on the outside square behind the animal. An important point was the texture of the udder which should be soft and silky. If it would milk right out to a, rag it showied great capacity in the vessel. In the nervous system prominent vertebrae with the nicks very pronounced and no flesh at all were looked for. While a long tail with a good brush added.to the appearance l of

the cow it had nothing to do with butterfat production. Towards the. close of his lectune Mr Robertson stressed the point that „in the show ring other essential? were wantfed tbfesides tttuose hei had m|Sn-i tioned, but all practical judges demanded 'milking characteristics first. A pretty cow was not much good if she would not produce milk, and official and semi-official tests had taught judge©, the value of milking characteristics. At. the same time in the Jersey breed what was known as the Island type was adhered to. It had been developed by the Jersey islanders through centuries of careful breeding, for butterfiat /production. In ■some other breeds a. type different from the original was developed under New Zealand conditions, but in th)e Jersey thle Island type, was maintained. At the conclusion a hearty vote of thanks Was accorded Mr Robertson for his instructive demonstration. A similar vote wias carried to Mr Horn for his hospitality.