GUERNSEY CATTLE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3330, 12 January 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

GUERNSEY CATTLE.

[By Prof. Brown, of Victoria ] Of the islands of Alderney, Guernsey, and Jersey that lie near the coast of France—facing the south of England —small and little known as they are to the great commercial world, are nevertheless spoken of nowadays in every country and in the dairy trade of every large city. The first-named, the smallest of the three, claims to he the home of the real old Channel Island milker, the true-blue Alderney, that has become merged in the modern exporting times with what is now called Jersey, after the largest island | which now regulates the trade. Be- | tween these islands, both in position and in size, lies the island of Guernsey. Guernsey has evorhaditsown type of cow, and the first thing that suggests itself in looking at tho general appearance of tho breed is that they are a cross between tho Ayrshire bull and Jersey cow. But they are not, though the resemblance is very striking, indeed, alike in markings by colour and in size of body—wanting, however, 1 in that fine, characteristic size of middle-piece. Having purchased the Guernsey from its home and bred them for several years, we desire to make some comments on this class of dairy | stock that hero and there are catering ; quietly for colonial patronage. I

Named from the island that has similar physical conditions to the renowned Jersey, which now dominates the supply of all the rich milk needs of the wealthy, there must bo reasons why the Guernsey Las not got even a share of the same distinction. In the United Statet for now nCaaly fifteen years they have beeu boomed in competition with the Jersey ; but, though they have frequently realised grand prices and great results have been made widely known, the Guernsey still remains less favoured by dairymen generally than the Jersey. The Guernsey breed is no harder than the Jersey, in the sense of being able to withstand extremes of conditions. Possibly, no veal dairy cow should be expected to do so. Nor are they so well developed constitutionally as the Jersey. They are lighter in the middle, and not well clad with mossy hair. Their extra size—say, between dn Ayrshire and Jersey—may take the liking of some, but the difference does not seem to have taken the market. In milking properties they are but slightly second to the Jersey in richness—running easily to 5 and 5.50 with a good average of 4 75, but they have not yet stood the all-round common grazing conditions, with the production of quantity of milk, equal to other breeds, nor have they ever equalled the Jersey in results from that high pressure of feeding which sometimes ends with sudden death. They are, nevertheless, a very profitable and attractive class of stock, and are decidedly equal to the Jersey aa domestic pets. Their good nature is very prominent, and, from the well-known trouble of bad temper in aging Jersey bulls, the Guernsey is comparatively free. It cannot be said, so far as we know, that any marked improvement is produced in ordinary stock by the use of the Guernsey bull, other than the characteristic qualities of docility and increased richness of milk.

Altogether, these colonies, notwithstanding the views Urged in the United States, may remain satisfied that they are in possession of all that the most advanced milk, butter, and cheese producers handle extensively anywhere, in the Holstein, Ayrshire, Shorthorn (Bates), and Jersey.