THE JERSEY COW

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1748, 6 September 1905, Page 59

THE JERSEY COW

(Condensed from a paper read at the Channel Islands Dairy Conference by Mr Ernest Mathews.) It is, I think, now pretty generally recognised that the Jersey is by far the best cow to keep where butter is required a® the butter obtained from her milk is, all things being equal, the finest in, quality, while the comparatively small quantity of milk required to make a pound of butter enables her owner to* manufacture it at considerably less cost than if milk from other dairy breeds was used. There are, however, some few who consider, and I must reckon myself amongst these, that a Jersey cow will give as good a return to her owner, where milk is sold, as the larger breeds of English cattle, since her live weight, which has something to do with the quantity of food she consumes, is considerably less than theirs, her period of lactation is much more prolonged, while the quantity of her milk is so much richer that not only a higher price can be obtained for it, but there need never be any fear of legal proceedings on the ground that 3 per cent, of fat, and! 8.5 per cent, of solids other than fat are not present in the milk. I do not, however, for one moment wish to initiate a discussion on the merits or the reverse of the different breed's of dairy cattle, but I have started with these propositions to show that, the Jersey must be taken seriously as one of the best dairy breeds, and to try and trace, for the benefit of those who are not acquainted wlith her history, the story of the Jersey during the past 170 years, pointing out, how she has attained that, pitch of excellence which enthusiastic admirers, like myself, claim for her.

THE HISTORY OF THE JERSEY cow is almost unique, because, in addition. to the “patience, perseverance, and long continuance” in careful breeding practised by the island farmers, the geographical position of the island, and the fact that the Channel Islands have their own Constitution, have played an important part in assistaing to place her in the position she occupies to-day. I shall endeavour to show, as briefly as possible, how the cattle originally came to he good and rich milkers; the steps taken by the authorities in the island to keep them pure; the exertions of the breeders to improve the cattle; and,

lastly, what has been done by the Engl;*h lovers of breed to bring into greater prominence these dairy qualities for which the Jersey is remarkable. And let me at once state that I shall draw my information from the writings of v/ell-known authorities—the late Col. le Couteur, Col. le Cornu, Mr John Thornton (whose excellent prefaces to the two first volumes of the English Jersey Herd Book will well repay perusal), Mr John Frederick Hiall (the originator of the butter-test competitions), and those publications of the English Jersey Cattle Society which have from time to time appeared in their Herd 1 Books, and in the papers and! journals devoted to agriculture. The Jersey cow is supposed originally to have

COME FROM NORMANDY, but at which: date the first importations took place there is apparently no evidence, although 170 years since she was considered a better dakry cow than the cattle in that part of France. The Rev. Philip Falle, in 1734. wrote that “the cattle are superior to the French,” an-1 this opinion seems to have been pretty universal, although, until the article by Col. le Couteur appeared in 1845, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England no single writer states how that superiority was attained. The following is Col. le Gouteur’s explanation :—'“The Jersey cow was excellent, as she has ever ’been, which has been attributed! to the circumstance of a few farmers having constantly attended to raising, stock from cows of the best milking qualities, which attention, prosecuted for a long number of years in a small country like our®, where such superior qualities would soon he known, led to the excellence of milking and butter fielding properties in the race at large. This never could have been attained so generally in Normandy, from whence our breed probably origin- ' ated, or in any other extended country .” Thomas Qua.yle, who wrote in 1812, on the general view of the agriculture and present state of the islands on the coast of Normandy for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture, in England, in speaking of the cattle, says:—< “It may readily be conceded that the breed in these islands, ini one pofint of view, appears to have an advantage over any other, and that is in the quantity and quality of cream produced from the consumption of a given quantity'of fodder.” Other writers speak in’ similar terms of the cattle, notably Mr J. Stead in 1809, Mr George Garrard in the early years of the past century, and! Mr Henry Inglis in 1834; but they throw no special light on the causes which' brought about the SUPERIORITY OF THE ISLAND CATTLE over those in Normandy. In two or three instances, however, the yields of the cattle are given, and it is interesting, in view of the performances of these latter days, to consider them for a moment or two. Quayle gives 2Q quarts (English measure) as the greatest quantity of milk given in 24 hours, the medium quantity being 10 quarts—i.e., 5§- gallons, with an average of 2£ gallons. From April to August some extraordinary cows gave 141 b I of butter in the week, instances of 121 b being well attested l . In summer 9 quart® of milk produce lib butter, in winter 7 quarts. I presume the lbs are Jersey lbs. Mr Garrard gives 141 b of butter per week as the yield of some cows, the yields of milk being from 3 to 4 gallons per day. “In one year the prcduce of a good cow in butter may be from 2201 b to 2001 b (Jersey weight).” Mr Inglis had heard of a cow giving 22 quarts of milk, but according to him the general average produce was 10 quart® of milk per day and 71b of butter, per week. Enough has been quoted to show that in the early days of the past century the cattle were known as good and rich milkers, and, considering how little dairying was then understood, it may be assumed that the butter- yields of the cattle would, under the more modern systems, have been rather, larger. It must not, however, he imagined that the Jersey cow of that time was like what we see to-day. Col. le Couteur points out that “the Jersey farmer, conscious of possessing a breed excellent for the production of rich milk and or earn .... sought no further, but was content to possess an ugly, informed animal wjith flat sides, wide between the ribs and hips, cat-hammed, narrow and high hips, with a hollow! back.” With all those faults, however, he goes on to state that, “she possessed the head of a fawn, a soft eye, an elegant crumpled horn, small ears, yellow within, a clean neck and throat,' fine bones, a fine tail —above all, a well-form-ed, capacious udder, with large-swelling milk veins.” Passing from this description of the Jersey cow as she was in the early years of the nineteenth century, I propose to refer shortly to the various Acts of the States of Jersey which had reference to the cattle of the island. In 1763 an Act FORBIDDING THE IMPORTATION from France inter alia of any cattle, under pain of confiscation of the vessel and cargo to the King became law. In 1789 another Act somewhat similar in its provisions were added to the Statutes, the preamble of which runs at follows:—'“The fraudulent importation'

of COW’S, heifers, calves and hulls from France having become a miat-tor most Alarming to the country, in that it not only contributes to raise butoheref meat to an exhorbitant pcrioe, but that it also menaces with total ruin one or the most profitable branches of the oommerce oH this island with England, the States having judged it necessary to enact, e tc.” In 1826 a further Act was passed. which commenced! thus: —-“The export of cows from this island into England being a branch of commerce advantageous to the country, and the superiority of their quality to those of France having shown the necessity of preserving the original breed, of avoiding any foreign admixture, and of preventing the frauds which might be practised by introducing into England French cows as being cows of this island, the States have believed it to be their duty to that end to establish the following regulations, etc.” In 1864 another Act passed the States, which declared that it was “to the interest of agriculture to maintain the purity of the bovine race.” And again, a further Act in 1878, which allowed importations of French cattle for provisioning the island, “while taking precautions to preserve the animals from the rinderpest,-” which was at that time prevalent in England. I have quoted from these Acts of the State rather fully to show, first, that the governing bodies in the island from very early days have been keenly alive ±o THE INTERESTS OF THE FARMERS and breeders j and, secondly, that through their legislation the Jersey can claim at the present time to be the. only breed that, apart from pedigree, has been kept pure for the past 150 years. It is true about 60 years since some Shorthorns and Ayrshires were introduced 'into the island with a view io improve the cattle, but the crosses turned out so badly that all the animals .were quickly disposed! of to the butcher. In 1833 the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society was founded, with the Lieutenant-Governor of the Island as President and Colonel le Couteur as secretary. -The following year Saw the first scale of points for bulls and cows drawn up, by which scale the judges at the shows were to be guided, and at the same time a rule was made that no bull should receive a prize until he had remained in the island at least one whole season after the prize was awarded.

This first scale of points and some of the later ones, which were more elaborate than the original ones, have been Subjected to criticism, because so very few points were allotted to the udder, Trill k veins, etc. The critics, however,, arc either ignorant of, or have forgotten, the position the breed! was in at the time these points were first drawn jqp. Colonel le Oouteur states most emphatically that the cattle in the island possessed ‘Well-formed, capacious udders, with large-swelling milk veins,” and «s the object of the society at that time was to improve the cattle in those points where they were deficient, it was only natural that at that time the scale pf points should! fie dlrawn up with a view to improve the cattle where they were weak. Even of late years I have •heard the same criticisms passed on the more recent scale of points, but again I think the critics are wrong, as no judge would take the trouble to scale an animal unless she possessed

A GOOD JVULKING VESSEL in ©very particular. Following the institution of the scale of points came, as a necessary consequence, the annual phowa of the society, which—omitting the parish shows and! including the hutiter test competitions, of which there aie two in the course of the year—amount to three, viz., the spring show for bulls, the May show for cows and heifers, and the summer show for animals of both sexes, which is usually held 'in August. It is needless to refer to the good that exhibitions of stock have gone generally, and' in this respect it may be taken for granted that the shows in Jersey have not been behind the shows that have been held elsewhere. Blut there is this drawback to exhibitions of live stock—viz., that the entries must be voluntary and therefore that only those who can afford to exhibit get the full benefit that •the show brings to the successful competitor. In Jersey this is not the case. In March, 1866, the Jersey Herd was 'established in connection with the Roypl Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural hut in 1868 it was resolved to maintain the Herd Book as a distinct institution. To. say that the formation of breed societies and the establishment Of books for registration of pedigrees has done good will, I think, be a truism that can be accepted by all breeders, but I know, of no society where ■the practical application of rules is so well and thoroughly carried out as by the Herd Book Committee of the Royal Jersey Society. The fact that Jersey is an island, and not too large, is, of course, a reason why rules can be made and enforced which would be impossible Jrn England; but, all the same, the care and forethought originally given to the rules, which have certainly made the JeTsey cattle what they are to-day, reflects the greatest credit on the original framers of those rules, while their practicability is shown by the circumstance tb»t the first rules ate still the guiding

principles which regulate the admission of the cattle into the Herd Book. ' IN ENGLAND, as moist of you know, all animals whose sires and dams are entered in the Herd Books are eligible for entry directly they are bom, and that whether they are good or bad. It will therefore readily be believed that there must be some animals entered in the various Herd Books that bring no credit to the breed, if they do not do positive harm. In Jersey this is not possible. Inspection has been a sine qua non, no matter how good the pedigree of the ancestors may have been, and in this particular the breeder in Jersey has an advantage which is attainable only by an exhibitor in Etngland. It must be remembered that in 1866, when the Herd Book was started, all the cattle in the island haxl been kept pnx'e for over 70 years, the shows, where a scale of points guided the judges, had been held for some .30 years, and, therefore, when inspection was made a condition precedent to registering an animal in the Herd Book, it will readily be conceived that the improvement of the cattle in the island made great progress. I must now turn for a few moments to England, and; see what the breeders have done to promote the improvement of the Jersey cow. The English Jersey Cattle Society was established in 1878, and in the following year the first volume of their Herd Book was published. Like all other breed societies, good resulted; the number of breeders of Jerseys increased, the quality of the animals exhibited at the shows improved'; but beyond saying that the Jersey breeders did thefcr best to persuade breeders of other cattle that the dairy qualities of the Jersey were exceedingly good, the society did no more than any other society of a similar character. In 1886, however, a new departure was made. The butter test classes were started, and from that day to the present they have increased in importance, and now are recognised as essential to the show yard, not only here, but in England and America, while their influence, through the publication of the reports containing the butter ratio figures, the average yields of the cattle, and of the length of time they have been in milk* has even penetrated to the great dairying countries of Sweden and Denmark. These classes owe thelir inception to Mr John Frederick Hall, of Sharcombe, Somerset. He had made experiments in his own dairy, and satisfied himself that no cow could compete with the Jersey for butter production. His suggestions were taken up warmly by the English Jersey Society, of Which he was at that timet a member of council, and from that time up to the present prizes and medals have been given by them for competition at various meetings, of agricultural societies. In 1800 A SHOW OF JERSEYS

only was held at Kempton Park, the whole of the prize money and' all expenses being borne by the English society. At that show the food return of the cows tested for butter was published, and it is to be recrrafcted that

it has been found impossible to get these returns since, exhibitors objecting in some ‘instances to give the necessary details. That the idea was right is, I think, shown by the fact that milk testing and control societies now exist in Denmark, and according to an account of them published in the Journal of the Beard of Agriculture for April last, they have been so successful that there are now in that country 308 societies, with 3780 members, possessing 136,800 cowb. In Sweden there are 204 societies, in Norway 120, 40 in Finland and 50 in Germany. The weight of milk of each cow is taken and tested, and a proper system of feeding prescribed. If only in this island a similar system were adopted, and butter making more scientifically pursued, I am convinced that no country oouldi send: into England butter of such quality or so economically manufactured as Jersey. The results of the various butter test competitions were so satisfactory to Jersey breeders that the English Society, in order to ascertain whether other cattle gave as rich milk, offered prizes at the Bath and West of England Society on the same lines, but open to any breed of cattle, including cross-breds. Th-ese prizes demonstrated the usefulness of the Jersey, but what brought the open butter test competitions into prominence was the munificence of Lord Rothschild,

A GREAT BREEDER OF JERSEYS, who, in 1893, gave the sum of £j2oo in prizes at the Tring Show for those cows of any breed, or cross, yielding (a) the greatest quantity of milk and <» the greatest weight of butter by Hie practical test of the churn. The Tring trials, as they are now called, have been continued on the same lines and with the same liberal prize list ever since, and it is satisfactory to add that they have demonstrated over and over again the superiority of the Jersey, breed as butter producers. The English Jersey Society have also given their medals to other societies for these useful competitions, notably to the Royal Jersey Society, the British Dairy Farmers’. Association , the Royal Counties Society, the Tunbridge Wells Society, and - for the past two years to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. But it may be asked: Are Jerseys any better since these competitions were first started? or, in other words: Have the competitions) done the breed any good? This is a difficult question to answer off-hand, because when one deals with figures it is easy to quote instances of large yields in the early days of testing, and to show good average returns; but I think I shall not be accused of over-stating the case when I say that, on the whole, the yields have generally increased, and I base my opinion on the fact that in the ear y days only a few cattle competed, whereas now the entries are very numerous, and the averages of the cattle have not gone down. I have gone through aU. the butter-test figures for the past 18 years to see if I could arrive at any more definite conclusion,. and . perhaps tbrt beat proof that there is an improvement may be Found in the fact that, notwithstanding the points necessary to

obtain a certificate of merit have been raised (Jerseys in th'h respect having to earn more points than any other breed), more certificates in proportion are granted every year. ' TWO MORE POINTS in connection with the butter tests I should like to mention, although I may be considered to be drifting from my subject; the first, that richness of milk appears to run in certain families, and to be transmissible through both male and female equally as to quantity of milk; and, secondly, that no breed can compare with the Jersey in the • longsustained flow of milk, which seems peculiar to the breed. The efforts of the English Society, too, have been successful in another way, which will hardly be credited here, viz., that one no longer hears in England of a Jersey being a drawing-room cow, and only fit for gentlemen, etc., the trials having shown her to be one of the most useful and! profitable of the dairy breeds. In the commencement of this paper I ventured to say that a Jersey cow is considered by some to give as good a return where milk is sold as the large breeds of English cattle. If the published yields of milk in the butter test trials and the period of lactation figures are read together, it will he seen that many of the cows must give at least 700 to 900 gallons per annum, and some a good deal more. When the live weight of the Jersey is taken into consideration, as also the fact that the milk being so good it fetches a higher price, and that there is no fear of it containing less than 3 per cent, fat or 8.5 per cent, solids other than fat, one wonders there are not more of these useful animals to he found in the herds of those farmers who supply our large towns with milk. This is not the place to discuss the milk standard, but I have always felt that there are two sides to every question, and the public ought to be considered as well as the farmer.