POLLED AYRSHIRES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 526, 1 December 1928, Page 29

POLLED AYRSHIRES

CHARACTERISTICS ESTABLISHED Scattered through the herds of several farmers in Rutland County, Vermont, U.S.A., are quite a number of pure-bred Ayrshires that seem to have the polled or hornless characteristics quite firmly established. In one herd there is at present a three-generation group which seems to have the polled characteristic fixed, while another is headed by a very good young polled hull, the dam of which is living, and is also polled. Information at hand shows that he is the fifth known generation calved without horns. One of the most striking cases is that of the cow Maggie Mason of Ira, 65856, now owned by Elwood Mack. This cow is an excellent individual, and has a herd test record of 10,7981 b of milk, and 4041 b of butterfat. She is polled, and, according to her former owner, Clayton Fish, of Ira Vermont her dam was also polled. Mated to Peter Pan of Willow Springs, a grandson of Beuchan Peter Pan, she produced Lucky Boy of Willow Springs, a polled bull that is now in service in the Mack herd. Of the first four calves from this bull three have been polled. Furthermore, both daughter and a grand-daughter of Maggie Mason of Ira are polled which is interesting evidence that this cow has the ability to transmit the hornless characteristics with a fair degree of regularity.