CROSS BRED DAIRY COWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1646, 23 January 1883, Page 4

CROSS BRED DAIRY COWS.

A great dqal. of, m-ominetice has been givciu y> 'W-tlio.sW -tlio.su l>ject 'of iv proposed new breed of dairy coys. The newf (?) i«ica l seema to 1 * hrtve originafieti fl nbt -with daityman* or breeder*, *bnfc with a poultry fancier, and the absurdlty'-'bt making a novelty of what haV'bden 1 in * existence for 30 Jtfars ■ past exemplifies fully the aptness of the proverb about a cobbler sticking to his last, and also the fact # that few people seem to know what is goin& oh about them. The proposed . new, oreed is a cross of the Ayrshire with the Jersey. To persons who are expert in fine dairying this cross has long been known, and lias, inqreover, been extensively used, but the trouble in the wuy is one sufficiently well known to breeders. It is the impossibility of fixing the united characteristics of the two combined breeds- Jn "the cross-bred .produce. A / new breed is not made by a wave of the hand, or by the expression of an enthusiast. It is the work of years, of a life-time, and of an expert breeder. The utmost patience and long and careful study arc required even for a beginning, and to reach a starting point. The oareless, unthinking man will say off-hand : "Here's your Ayrshire cow, a copious milker*, sturdy, hardy, and easy 'feeder, and here your 'Jersey bull, descended from frthe' richest butter cow. eyer known, , *nd < having an escutcheon of the mos,t perfect form, and all the m'oWpopular and fashionable points. Let uV-mingle these two blooda. The *esufti.,will be that we shall certainly have cross-bred animals partaking of the good qualities of both of the parents. / And then we will inter-breed these, and fix these qualities upon the race. In time we shall possess a cow that is a copious milker und a rich butter maker ; we shall put the butter of the Jersey into the milk of the Ayrshire, and the tenderness of the one will be overpowered by the robustness of the other."' He will figure this out ;he will reach it as Bobadil killed off his enemies and gained victories, by computation. But unfortu nately figures and actual results have nevev yet matched ov helped each other out in matters of breeding. It is safer to calculate and figure the other way and hope one may be mistaken. Now, so far as crossing Ayrshires with Jerseys, the results, so far as the first cross goes, are all that the most sanguine person can look for or expect. He will, indeed, put the butter of the Jersey in the milk of the Ayrshire sometimes, nnd sometimes he will, put the 'milk of the Ayrshire into the butter of the Jersey. These may seem to mean the same thing, but they do not. There is a great difference when one meets it in the dairy. The cross may produce a cow with all the points of the Ayrshire in form and colour and general make-up, refined and moulded by the Jersey, with the finer head and neck and yellow cars, soft yellow skin fine horn, large bright soft eye and fine bone of the latter, or he may have all the general points of the Jersey, altered by the coarse head and hair, the coarser bone, more lobiist body, and heavy horn of the Ayrshiie. And what is more, this latter result will happen almost every time when the top cross is the Aryshire. The cow of the former kind cannot be surpassed for use in a butter dairy, and its butter will be supeiior in flavour and texture to that of the pure Jersey, except to those persons, perhaps, who are piejudiced by fashion in favour of the latter. Some years' experience and an acquaintance with a large herd in which pure Jei soy bulls have been crossed upon pure Ayrshiie cows for 30 years past, and from which the cross-bred animals have been scatover the country at laigc, arc the grounds for the previous statements. The fii stand most .successful breeder of this class of cows is Mr Thomas Fitch, of New London, Conn. Hi- has been engaged in crossing breeds for the dairy for his whole mature life-time, and his experience is that this first cross is the most valuable cow for the butter dairy in existence. But lie has not found it pi oh" table to go beyond this and bleed from this cross, and so found a new breed, and the long experience of this bhrcwd and skilful breeder should not be readily set aside upon the mere figuring of any person who has no practical experience, and merely supposes that from certain known conditions or values equally ceitain lesults will surely follow. It is unfortunate for us that they do not, as it would then ha very easy to pioduce Mich rich butter cows for dairy purposes that in time c\ery dairyman might have his own private golden calf to worship, or his cow which would drop the readymade golden grains into the market tubs. Indeed, this lias been claimed for a Michigan cow, but the modesty of the owner, perhaps, lias so far kept his cow from the public view. It is difficult to be serious when the surprising vagaries and ainasing statements indulged in, and made by some of the more enthusiastic .speculators and dealers in Jersey cattle of the present time are considered, l'he Jersey cow or bull is to them an Aladdin's lamp, by the mere rubbing of which common stuff is transformed into gold and jewels. For them their cow is a mysteriously working machine, which transmutes grass and corn into butter ; nay, the butter is produced by the cow from nothing at all, for there are small cows which are said to have produced their Avhole weight of butter in a year— and have yet not lost weight — from food which had not the fat necessary to make this butter in it. And their bull is an agency by which a twentieth cow can be produced from an ordinary cow, or a new breed produced by creasing upon another race, which shall surpass in value all the productions of all former breeders. It is unfortunate that breeding is not an exact science, like mathematics. On the contrary, we have many disappointing failures from the best laid plans and devices, and the production of a crossbreed which shall retain all the good qualities of the first cross has so far defied the best efforts of breeders. The test common purpose animal is a crossbred. Of that there is no doubt, for long experience and business practice have proved it beyond a question. We are justified in considering our best native dairy stock as cross-bred, for it is made up of the produce of pure breeds crossed and the produce interbred. Now the half-bred Jersey and native is, on the whole, a far better cow for the working dairy than a pure Jersey. The half-bred Shorthorn or Hereford, or the cross-bred Polled Angus i and Shorthorn, is a better beef animal -than any of the pure-bred steers. So the great value of the pure breeds is for crossing. But no one breeds the grades pr crosses together to perpetuate their valuable qualities which have been derived from their pure - bred parent. When this is done the good grades de,','generate into mongrels and soon become 'worthless. This is the universal experience. Some person occasionally dev otes ( years ,of patient work to building up a " breed " from an excellent cow he i bad once possessed, and perhaps by selecting the best and giving them the „care to which they have been used, and . with the practice of which he is familiar, gj^ipay succeed in getting an excellent * herd in the course of a quarter of a ceujjfiijjy.. But when he begins, to distribute his stock—which he imagines to be "a .^newv Wpd; J> — abroad, the purchasers f ,a^e,. disappointed, and the stock falls ,'jittji6 t disrepi}t^. 'A breed was never yet jr|srmedj r |$rmed by a single person from a 'single T jpair, jtiat as no nation was ever yet formed from, tii single family. These come alike t ;£roni communities which are kept isolated y.^nd lipt^rbfeed among themselves, and,ins "the coutie of centtirie* become .fixed "in ,jjfcyp&, ■< For, obvious reasons, a breed Hs rttbufo j^»is,an|6ng inen'.' ' 'Arid &|j?os' l %?i • ' $'ft " ! "P v ffl 'thfl*J 'Hetefojcd,' 1

Europe equally strongly mSrkerl--Swa(i ! <fld ak thesd.' Thftrojhei; shires,] Shorthorns, Jerseys, aria • 6» jfp'ys, I'liicli vary so much '"^tok^'d appearance, arc, nevcrthelcsSrJgwffe than a' A couiiiry ,• old, , yti%, they lmi»e^i#J)hii|g •inorrf xp jiiarjt-thenaJihaH.a partial resemblance! in foi m, having infixed colour. A'nd they, will probably n&ver' have this fixed 'semblance, because they avo too widely s-pi end abroad and are no longer' sufficiently' isolated. ' For 'this reason, too, they will probably "\#ry more and mot e,t until m time, notwithstanding the herd-books and the worship of pedigrees, they jwill beC6) l n'6*as diverse" as our socalled' natives, and this long before they become as numerous.' Thoi c isa very small, probability of the building up of any ilcw breeds. The inI dispensable conditions of isolation and of concentration and unity of purpose are wanting. So that in respect of a new and improved dairy breed, what hopes may be built up, and whatever inducements may be felt by dairymen, it will be useJess to Jose labour and time in efforts to that end. Let us do the best with, what we have. It is hardly possible that better stock; to begin with than our best natives, or- ■well selected Ayrehires or Jerseys, can be procured, and if a dairyman who has the first will use a pure bull of either of the other breeds, or those who have these will keep them pure, the end will be better than to follow the ignu>> futuits of "anew breed" through all the swamps and thickets of the breeder's experience. And if one wishes the Jersey- Ayrshire cross let him keep to that for use but not for inter-breeding. — Xciv York Times.

Truth is stranger than fish-stories. A Parijamkntary return shows that the National Debt on March 31, 1882, amounted to £760,045,940 ■' l 3 against £7G8, 703,692 on the corresponding date of 1881, and £774,044.235 in 1880. Strekt begging in Paris is on the increase. The less frequented streets are becoming more infested with beggars than those of London, and they arc 'cute enough to leave natives unnoticed and and single out foreigners. The number of "genteel beggars" is also on the increase, and that class arc mostly foreigners. BAKON WILItKLM ROTHSCHILD, of Frankfort, is so strict a Jew that during his recent toar through Switzerland he was accompanied, not only by his ritual cook and bntcher, but also by ten devout persons of his own religion, who went solely for the purpose of praying with him, as according to Mosaic law a congregation must consist of at least ten worshippers. The Baron returned his income for 1881 at 1,189,500 dols, so that he can certainly afford himself these ritualistic luxuries. A Le.sson to Deadheads. — Macaulay says somewhere that the Puritans could not even cut a corn without scraping a text over it. Mrßarnum, who is nothing if not ready — salves over a wound on the principle of the men of the Mayflower. The other day a church deacon asked him for a " pass" to see the winter quarters of his animals. Mr Barnum, however declared free passes to be " played out." " We never issue one to the big shows except to editors, clergymen, or orphan asylums, or to persons who render us equivalent service in some way. Nobody will go inside the ' winter quarters ' except cditois." The deacon thought this wab carrying his restrictions too far. " Perhaps so," said the showman, " but as you generally like (Scriptural authority for evciy thing, I present you with this card." The card read as follows :—: — Fki.i' Passi s. Tn those tl.iys there were no passes given. Scan h the .Scriptures ltiou bhalt not pass.— Numb. \x., 18. Suffer not .t in.in to pass.— Judges ni., 28. The wicked shall no more pass, — Nalium i., 15, None shall pass, -Isaiah w\iv., 10. This generation shall not pass.— Mark xiii., 30. Though they roar, yet they cannot pass, — Jeremiah v , 22. So he paid the fare thereof, and went. — Jonah 1., J. On a recent Sabbath the famous Key. Henry Waid J3eecher, in his sermon, animadverted upon the methods by which the nomination of Judge Rogers for Governor of New York was accomplished. He declared them to be such that he, as a Christian minister, must condemn, and that he would withhold support from the nominee. This disgusted one of his hearers, who chanced to be one of the famous 30b' of the Chicago convention ■who stood for General Grant. Next morning he sent Mr Beecher this brief note: — "Dear Mr Beecher, — You made an ass of yourself yesterday. — Amos W. Learned." He was happier in writing it than he was in reading Mr Beecher's reply: — "Dear Sir, — The Lord saved you trouble by making you an ass at the beginning, and His work stands sure. — Henry Ward Beecher." A cannon of Queen Mary's reign was fired on the last Fourth of Julyat Frenchman's Bay, Sullivan, Maine. The day was celebrated by a veteran of 1837, Alenson Townsen, of Phcunix, New York, aged 93, by repeating from memory the whole text of the Declaration of Independence. Probably the most unique celebration was that of Captain Roper, an English Shipmaster, whom the harbor authorities of San Francisco would not allow to abuse his cargo of Chinamen. He rigged his ship with bunting from truck to keelson to celebrate "the day when England won her independence by getting rid of this country." An Australian paper states that two rabbit trappers caught five foxes in their traps on the You Youngs one morning recently. If the increase of foxes is not checked thr-y will become an even greater pest to the sheep farmer than the dingo was, as it is asserted that the fox will only eat prey of his own killing. Possibly this is only the case when the prey is plentiful, and so long as the rabbit nuisance exists Reynard will not go short of rations, and, as a matter of course, will turn up his nose at a poisoned bait. — Another Australian contemporary says :—": — " Sir W. J. Clarke has purchased Cobran station, Riverina, for £300,000. Five years ago Dr. Telford purchased the property for £250,000, which was considered a long price. The estate consists of 144,723 acres of freehold land, 50,000 acres of Crown land, 80,000 sheep, 27S cattle, and 117 horses." A Novel Cloture.— The leaders of a Socialist gathering assembled recently in a gymnasium at Paris, and were fain to adopt an amusing expedient for getting rid of an opponent gifted with a sonorous voice and a ready flow of elocution. The more the leaders tried to put an end to the eloquence of this unwelcome declaimer, bent on proving that his opponents were fools and rogues, and himself the only true and sensible patriot, the more steadily and euphoniously did the speaker go on speaking. The meeting became agitated, then uproarious, and a scene of violence was just sotting in,' when a gymnastic belt was neatly slipped from behind, under the orator's uplifted arms, deftly buckled on him before he knew what was going on, and a strong rope from the ceiling being slipped through the ring, the astonished orator was slung up to the celling, and found himself, before he had 'discovered what was going on, dangling from a Hook in, the ceiling above the chahdilier. The tempest of laughter, -that grpetecUhe spec-, tacle of the hapless orator thus 1 ' hanging like a great spider from the ceiling may, be better, .imagined,, than described, and' restored tho^gbdd'hiim'our of the' gathering in /a trice. ? | The Presi- { dent, as soon as the peals of ,, laugh ten allowed him to make himself heard, offered to the unfortunate orator' to have hiraij^M o^ j!on|c£iiditidn that Ke, pro-| mised to allow himself to.Be infctatly ,conj , ducted to the door, and engaged to quit 'the meetingf<withput (Speakinfl; f .and neyier ■ to.scome back. The, wr^hed^dain'gletf [haviug'signUbd/Kft^ ' term's! 'i 'he'^as^'lo-Wereu. vfroni^ the * dizzy v