AN ENGLISH' DAIRY SHOW.

Patea Mail, Volume X, Issue 1327, 27 March 1885, Page 2

AN ENGLISH' DAIRY SHOW.

A dairy show, according to the Times the best ever held in England, took place at Islington early in October last. The results of (he careful tests made to determine the relative merits of the different cows as milk and butter makers arc instructive, as showing how little “ fancy points ” have to doiwith practical excellence in dairy animals. The chemical analysis to which the milk was subjected again brought out conspicuously the great superiority of the Channel Islands cattle as .producers of ; rich milk. A perusal of the following extract from the columns of the Times will give our New Zsaland readers some idea of what a co ,v must bo to’ be reckoned a first-class dairy animal in England :

The most important of all the awards at the show at Islington were made yesterday, as of all things it was desirable to determine which animals are of the highest value in the production ‘of milk. Accordingly, the 60 cows and heifers in the milking competition were clean milked to the satisfaction of the stewards on Tuesday night, and the milk yielded by each at the morning and evening milkings on Wednesday was weighed, and then subjected to chemical analysis. The judges, Dr Voelcker, P.R.S., Mr G F Roumien, and Mr E C Tisdall, passed their judgment by a scale of points taking into consideration the quantity or weight of milk, the quality of the milk as represented by the percentage of solids and of fat, and the time which has elapsed in each case since calving, one point being gained for each ten days of the milking period.- These results of actual performance are at variance with the previous awards in the several classes made according to the standard of merii by inspection. Thus, of the pure-bred shorthorns the first and second prize milkers, together with the reserve cow, are those shown by Mr I N Edwards, of St. Albans, which were left without mention in the prize list of the inspection judges, and in milking they beat the champion shorthorn, Mr Louis Ponsonby’s Leila. Gf shorthorns hot eligible for the herd book the best milker is Red Cherry, a cow shown by Mr J.-seph Phillips, of Peterborough. She is also the winner of the champion prize as best milker of all the breeds in the show, Yet the inspection judges did not give her even a commendation, though they highly commended a number of other animals in her class. The third best milker is Mr Manoah Walker’s Cherry, also without notice in the inspection prize list. Only the second prize milker had been honoured in the prize list—namely, Mr Abraham Slansfield’s first prize Una 11.

Among the Jerseys and Guernseys the best milker is Mr W A Gann’s Guernsey cow, Gentle, which had the secoond prize in the inspection judging ; the second best milker is Mr FredericS Champion’s Jersey cow Duchess 11, which took nothing in the other list ; and the third best milker is Mr W Arkwright’s Jersey cow Lilian, which was similarly without honour by the test of appearance. Of other breeds and crosses, the best milker is Captain Rosa’s Welsh cow Duchess of [Carnarvon, which has been adjuged by inspection to the highest place ; the second best is MrThos Birdsey’s Shorthorn—and—Ayrshire cross that had been highly commended ; and the third best milker is Mr George Ferme’s Ayrshire cow, Lady Lindsay, which had been adjudged no distinction in her class. It is, of course, possible that some of the animals which had been placed high in the prize list b}’ inspection might have distinguished themselves in 11ve milking competition had they been in full profit ; but the fallacy of adjudicating the dairy merits of animals without actual trial is demonstrated by the general failure of cows which, having won prizes from the inspection judges, did compete at the pail on Wednesday. It is surprising what excessive differences exists between the milking merits of individual cows of the same kind in the -same herd under the same feeding, for wo hear of one Jersey yielding no leas than £4O worth of milk between calf and calf, while another under the same treatment, gives less than half that value. And it is only by doily record of the produce of each individual animal on a dairy farm that dams can be selected for the breeding of bull and heifer calves certain to perpetuate rich milking properties. Quantity of milk yielded was the moat important point noted by the milking judges ; next the quality of the milk; and then the duration of the milking period. The champion milker, Mr Phillip’s Red Cherry, a shorthorn, without'pedigree, has been in milk for five months ; her day’s milk in two milkings was 5P751b, containing 12‘31 per cent of total solids and

3*26 per cent of fat. Mr Glynn's first prize Guernsey, having been in milk months, gave only 20£lb of milk, but of such richness that it contains 14*99 per cent of total solids and 6 28 per cent of fat. Mr Champion’s second prize Jersey, in milk for only li months, gave BSlb of milk, with 13 - 52 per cent of solids and 3*76 per cent of fat. Captain Ross’s first prize Welsh cow, in milk only one month, gave 461b of milk ; and Mr Thos Bii dsoy’s second prize fShorthorn-and-Ayrshire cross, in milk three weeks, gave 37flb of milk. Mr Walter Gilbey’s fine Dutch cow, with a most remarkably developed udder, yielded at her two milkings in the day no less than 52£lb of milk, but this of the poorest quality of any tried, containing under 2 per cent of fat. At the butter-making contest only four dairymaids competed. The first prize was won by Mrs Holmes, of Sundridge Park Farm, Bromley, Kent ; the second by her daughter, Miss Fanny Holmes, who was not quite so export in salting the butter ; and the third by 1 Mrs G Green, of Avon Dairy, Ringwood, Hants. The Lord Mayor’s champion prize for the best fresh butter made in the United Kingdom is awarded to Mr Thomas Meicer, of Balderstone, Blackburn. No decision had been come to when the report was written by the judges of the centrifugal cream separators ; but it is understsod that while the Laval machine of D Hald and Co, of Wilson street, Finsbury, driven by a Ihorsc power steam engine, claims merit for simplicity, the Danish machines of the Aylesbury Dairy Company, St. Petersburgh place, Bayswater, driven by horse power, has effected the separation so perfectly as to leave a much lower percentage of cream in the skimmed milk.