AYRSHIRES AS DAIRY CATTLE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1907, 21 April 1885, Page 2

AYRSHIRES AS DAIRY CATTLE.

A correspondent rates to The Live Stock Journal Sir—l have just received the schedule of prizes of the Bath and West of England Agricultural show to be held at Brighton this year, and on looking through it, I see there is nc class again for the heavy milking, little Ayrshire, and 1 believe, with the exception of the Royai there will not be any class for them in the forthcoming agricultural shows this summer. Why is it ?Is it because the breed is not yet generally known in England, or because it is not yet fashionable, or because "paterfamilias" does not know where to get one I 1 think the answer must be, because they are not sufficiently known; the fault, certainly, is not in the Ayrshires themselves, as, undoubtedly, they are pephaps fte best dail<y-QQ\YB known; on aeSQHnt of tho <J\iantity and the good quality of the milk; awl as a proof of what I write, I refer you to the result of the Daily Show heldat the Agricultural Hall, Islington, in the years 1882 and. 1882, when tho judges awarded in 1883, to anAyrshirecow,theLordMayor's champion cup, as the best dairy cow for taiiy purposes in milk at the show ; and also the highest medal, as the best milker at the show j she also took first prize in her class. In 1883 she was again awarded the Lord Mayor's champion cup as the best dairy cow in the show-she was not in mill? tips time ; sho also took first prize ii}her class.' •,

. Now, she talked away with . these honours in competition with the fashion-' able Shorthorns, the Jerseys, and the Guernseys, and yet the ipnaeing councils of these'shows oan find no room for a class for Ayrshires. I say again, why is it ? after what they have done, Is it because the respective committees who arrange the prize sheets are ignorant of their duties! Is it because England is jealous of" bonnie" Scotland? To thiß question I should say no, or jealousy would havo excluded the Jersey breed." Can it be becauso the funds are short? and to thjs qpstiqn I ghquld make tjie same reply," as prizes offered most liberally to other breeds, especially to stock wluch caniiot claim to bo classed as an established breed.

There $3 0110 thing certqiii, tlwt w agnpiiltiiral show oaqnot ho properly represented without what is known as a " dairy olass," particularly in these times, when all tho agricultural joiirnnls agree in saying that the only remunerative part of farming is " daily-farming," by which tlioy do not mean butter making, but milk selling. Now, why not havo classes for all the best known breeds, and not limited to three or four: should some classes not fill, 110 harm is done. I say there is not a class in the scheme of |he Bath pd West qf England Shiny to intevesfc or instruct the milk-sqlling dairyfarmer, and I say that the organisers of the show have undoubtedly failed in their duty in this respect. But as the French say, revenom anos moutons, and I think it better to get back to my cow, Some of your readers may think -Oh, it's alj vepy well, but she's an exceptionally gqoc| she is not, as 1 have others 'dqipv' milkera and giving equally good milk, one, when in full milk, giving 24 quarts a day, another 22 quarts. _ Now, let me consider at what cost I obtain this quantity of milk, which is my great point of comparison with othor breeds of oows. Of course, the Jerseys and Guernseys are out of the question, as they give considerably less milk, and theirs is for butter making, not milk selling. Now for the pure-bred Shorthorns. It is well known they barely give enough to bring Hp tUejr cqlvep. Now, haying disposed qf thego' breeds, J tq the plagq qf co\yq one finds, in nine out of fen, in every daily farm, and whioh can be best deaoribed aa under-bred Shorthorn oows. I havo some of these, and ono has given me, when in ftll milk, 24 quarts a day, and sometimes 20, another 22 quarts, but both these cows consume at least one-third more than an Ayshire, and, as the chief object of a dairy farmer must be to prolog greatest quantity ' pf the pfiijMe.cqsJ, fhprp pp be little doqbt t|qt tjiat tye Ayrshire, being also very hardy," should ba the milk-selling dairy-farmers' cow; and tq partly qoflfirm what I have written, \ refer yqu to an accent fro an American farmer in your Journal of January 9th, which is most interesting. Tho Ayrshire is also highly appreciated in our colonies, and at a Bale bv auction hold in Sydney last year, ono, 3| years old, was sold for 2GO gs,