PAN-AMERICAN MODEL DAIRY

New Zealand Mail, 29 January 1902, Page 54

PAN-AMERICAN MODEL DAIRY

« THE CATTLE PENS. (0. S. Plumer, in the “Rural New Yorker.”) Readers of live stock and agricultural journals in the United States have informed for several months that a socalled “Model Dairy” is in operation on the Pan-American Exposition grounds at Buffalo. The milk for this dairy is supplied from five .cows each •of the following breeds: —Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Dutch Belted, French Cattle Club nor the Holstein-Friesian Jersev, Polled Jersey, Shorthorn and Red Poll. These cows are supposed to be good representatives of the breeds. In part only the Breeding Association selected the animals to be used in the test, and neither the American Jersey Cattle Club nor the Holstein-Friesian Association of North America supervised the selection of Jersey or Holstein. These were contributed by the Dominion Government of Canada, as were also the Ayrshires, Shorthorns and French Canadians. These fifty cows have been kept in the Model Dairy building on the Exposition grounds since May Ist, and have lived from month to month in the stalls. They are protected from visitors by woven wire fencing, and each herd is in charge of a herdsman who supervises the feeding and care. A record is kept of the daily food of each cow; all the milk is weighed and sampled, aDd tested for its butter fat content, and various other records are kept to throw light on the relationship of consumption to production. Yvhile the ori•ginal idea was simply to maintain a model dairy at the Exposition, the fact that different breeds supplied the milk, with equal representation in each, soon reduced the trial to a breed contest. This was not at all the purpose contemplated by some of the persons interested. While the Guernseys, for example, have been leaders in the records, Guernsey breeders did not understand that their cattle were to be placed in a breed trial, and did not enter them with this purpose in view. The conditions. however, made it a test, whether the breeder desired it so or not. The writer has been interested in the work of these cows, and has had the privilege of making fairly careful personal examinations of most of the cows in the barn. This examination convinced me that while the Jerseys and Hoi steins were fair specimens of these breeds, without doubt cows of much more capacity than these Canadian cows —in fact, better representatives—could easily have been found in the United States. The Holsteins certainly lacked tho general size and capacity of the best individuals of the breed. The Avrsliires are a grand lot, and represent perhaps the choicest collection in the barn of any breed. The Shorthorns were fair specimens, but better types of milking Shorthorns should have been found in Canada. They certainly are there. The amount and kind of foods fed the different breeds depend upon the persons in charge of each breed. The Guernsey people, for example, can feed what they wish, and the Brown Swiss may feed quite differently. The feed for the cows is kept under lock and key in the care of a man who issues it, and charges the same to the cow for which it is intended. A schedule of prices for the different feeding stuffs is adopted tliat has a general application to all the animals. A careful study of the official report of tho foods consumed hv each breed, and the cost of tho same, makes interesting reading. In the latest record available at my command (for the week ending September 24th) it is shown that all the cows were fed hay, green fodder, silage, bran and gluten. Nine breeds ate cornmeal, six oats, nine linseed meal, and six cottonseed meal. The Jerseys, Brown Swiss. Red Polls and Dutch Belted were all fed these different feeds. No cornmeal was fed the French Canadians, no oats to Guernsey, Ayrshire, Shorthorn or French Canadian; no linseed meal to Ayrshire, nor cotton-seed meal to Ayrshire, Holstein, Polled Jersey, or French Canadian. The Ayrshire and French Canadian during this week had the simplest diet. This week’s record showed tho lowest cost of food, the French Canadian, 4.10 dollars, and the highest, the Holstein, G.G2 dollars. In feeding the cows, some of the feeders at least study the economy of food, and feed witli the view of showing the greatest net profit in butter production or in total solids in the milk. The Holsteins are big eaters, but they are also large producers, and this week they-made a net profit in butter of 7.28 dollars; but the Jerseys made 7.41 dollars, the Ayrshires 7.36 dollars, and the Guernseys 7.26 dollars. Among the poorest records tho Dutch Belted lead with 3.90 dollars, with the Polled Jersey next with a record of 5.30 dollars. During this week of feeding, the Shorthorns ate 301 b hay and green fodder, by far the most of any breed, while the Red Polls ate but 901 b. The latter

breed, however, consumed heavily of silage, eating 21221 b, the next greatest amount being 19861 b eaten by the Brown Swiss, while the smallest amount, 14451b,was eaten by the Ayrshires. This shows that the Red Polls ate about 601 b of silage a day per head, while the Ayrshires consumed about 41 lb. Hay, fodder, silage, bran and gluten are shown to be the staples relied on. Each breed was fed bran fairly heavily, but a wide difference prevailed in the use of gluten. About 11 lb of gluten was fed each Jersey per day, while 51b were fed the Holsteins, and nearly 4Ub a day to the Shorthorns. So far as I can figure it out, each Holstein cow ate daily for the week ending September 24th essentially the following amount of feed in pounds:—Hay and green fodder, 6; silage, 581; bran, 4; cornmeal, 11; oats, 2; gluten, 5; linseed meal, 11; a total of 77lib, of which the grain comprised 131 b. Such a ration cannot bo called a small one, yet it was fed with much profit to the cows, as the records show. The three great standbys with each feeder are apparently silage, bran and gluten, and all persons familiar with feeding dairy cattle realise that these are the best of foods for producing milk flow rather than, flesh. The best cow of any breed in the matter of profit is the Guernsey cow Mary. Marshall, for she has had top rank nearly all the time during the test. The Red Poll cow May Flower is a very excellent worker, and so also is the Jersey. Primrose Park’s Pride. The Red Poll bred has surprised some people in the showing they have made, which is very creditable, but it is entirely in harmony with Red Poll records in England and America. One tiling in connection with this test that is of interest is the fact that the Guernseys and Jerseys made the best record at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, the Jersey slightly leading. The writer believes that the American Jersey Cattle Club could have selected cows that would have done much better than those representing the breed at present, animals that could have led in this breed exhibition.

The model dairy has been an interesting exhibition, but it really has-denion-strated nothing conclusive on the breed question. To he sure, it has shown what representatives of the different breeds can do, but it has not been demonstrated that some of these breeds could not do still better, and make records that would cause a general re-adjustment of the breed rating. One interesting feature of the test is to demonstrate that dairy cows can be kept under very unfavourable conditions, on a fair ground amid great excitement, and during extremely hot summer weather, and surrounded by a multitude of flies, and yield a good profit in production over cost of feed. If such satisfactory results can be secured in a place like* that at Buffalo, then considerably better returns should be obtained from fairly good animals under suitable home surroundings.