WORLD'S GREATEST JERSEY.

Shannon News, 10 August 1928, Page 1

WORLD'S GREATEST JERSEY.

BREAKS TWO RECORDS.

In an ancient hillside barn which nestles in the Hoosae Mountains in Northern Massachusetts, the fine old Jersey cow, Abigail of Hillside, has completed the greatest Jersey record of all time. The record which, this cow has made has not only broken all previous records,.but it exceeds all other official tests by such a great margin that it has established It new standard of production^ •Starting this test when she was eight years and six .months of age, Abigail produced 1,i97.511bs of butterfat and 23,6771bs of .milk in 365 days With this record she supersedes Darling's Jolly Lassie, which held the national championship with her junior four-year-old record of' 1,141.281bs of butteVfat and 16,4251bs of milk, iii class' AA. Lassie's test is still a record fox all breeds in her age class. Abigail also supersedes Postmistress, the English Jersey cow, which recently "set a new world record for milk production with her yield of 21,03151b5. of milk,' and. she also surpasses the record of Wagg'a Gladys, an Australian cow which has a record of 1,149,381b5. butterfat and 20,835 lbs of milk. From these figures Abigail of Hillside is firmly established as the highest producing Jersey cow in the world. Abigail is owned and was bred and tested by Mr John T. Carpenter at Upside Jersey Farm, Shelburne' Falls, Mass. She has been tested on 4 separate lactations and this is the second time that she has made a thousand pound record. Beside being world champion for both milk and butterfat production she is, in addition, the onIv Jersey cow with, two records averaging more than l,loolbs of butterfat, All the circumstances connected with Abigail are such that her achievementswill always command the greatest, re spect of all who' admire good livestock. In the latest, test as well as in the previous ones, Abigail was cared for in a very practical way. She is . the only cow in this herd that has' been milked three times a day during th< past year, otherwise her record was made "under conditions almost identical •to those under which the other cows in the Hillside farm herd are tested. She was fed a commercial-open formula dairy ration which ;u consisted., of the following ingredients: 3801bs corn gluten feed, 3401bs choice yellow" hominy, 3201bs linseed meal, 12601 b. ground oats; 2001bs bran;. 1401bs cot ton seed meal; lOOlbs corn distillers dried grains; lOOl.bs pollard; lOOlbs mo lasses; 201bs steamed bone meal; 201. calcium carbonate; 201bs salt;:> /Tota ■mixture 3,0001b5. Beet pulp was alsr used.. Abigail was never off feed du: ing the test and she consumed this mixture with apparent relish. The ratioi was not varied (throughout the tes and it evidently met all the requirements for consistent high production. Those who have had the pleasure o. seeing Abigail agree that this cow im presses one in a.way that is a.little bi. difficult to explaiii She does not ap pear to be a large cow, although sin is rather long and'weighs in the neigh bourhood of 1,0501b5. Her udder is a'i most perfect, even after the four higl records that she has completed. £;< glance will show that the udder ir well balanced and carries a networl of small veins. It is a remarkabh milk vessel, for over 80,0001bs of mih has passed through it in Abigail's lifetime. Quality and efficiency are term which most nearly describe this mos extraordinary animal. . During the year her test was super vised by seventeen different supervis ors from eight States on thirty-thre». different occasions. Many of the* supervisions were four days in lengtl. She was started on her test on .twice . day milking but when her yield reach .>il 701bs per day it was thought ai:, ..sable to milk her three times. lit . end hs the highest of all breeds'oi-' lirco times a day milking,

. Perhaps the most remarkable featur f .this new record is that it was" f )ariMitly made with no unusual effoi (.'ii»A];igail's part. There was no'hin. secret, or mysterious about the ratio thai she was fed iand she maiiitainei he.- plu;nominal yield with such ea& ;hai the record did not appear to be spectacular one. to those who wei wn ching the cow. She was actuals on test for thirteen mouths and. i computing her record' the first month'! production was discarded, for hei yield in the thirteenth month wa: greater than in the first thirty dayf< This is a remarkable example of Jersey Her total yield for thirteen;••'•months is 1,279 53 lbs o\ buttorfat, and 25,3241b's of milk . On the last day of the test, or thirteen, months after" calving, she gave C 4 :. lbs of milk.