The American Jersey Cattle Club has published a pamphlet giving the work of the Jersey team of twenty-five selected from all over the United States under a committee appointed by the American Jersey Cattle Club which showed no favoritism, but the cows were judged for entrance into this team by preliminary tests at St. Louis and then the team selected by a committee. It ought to be very gratifying to the old breeders in Tennessee to analyze this pamphlet and find that the cattle bred, owned and developed in Tennessee have, through their descendants, put their mark on thirteen of the twenty-five. It certainly is very pleasant to the writer of this to find that Tormentor, owned by Major Campbell Brown, placed his mark on twelve of the twenty-five; Landseer’s Fancy, owned by the writer, on seven; Oonan, six; Toltec’s Fancy, four. Only one other cow in the United States, of co-temporaneous age, competes with them with six, this cow Erotas.
It is also to be noted that No. 1 of the team of twenty-five champion over own team, the champion cow of all breeds at the World’s Fair, is a descendant from cattle owned, bred and developed by old Tennessee breeders. I do not mean, of course, that she is composed entirely of this blood, but she takes her line directly back from Chemical Test bred in Tennessee, son of Toltec’s Fancy, that in turn was daughter of Landseer’s Fancy. So carrying the blood of Tormentor, Landseer’s Fancy and Oonan.
Then permit an old breeder to make the suggestion that what has been done once could be done now even to greater advantage if taken up and the proper amount of energy, zeal and intelligence bestowed upon it. Prices would again revive and Jersey interests in Tennessee would again develop. Why should young breeders of the country neglect the natural advantages we have, backed by experience and the development of the breed already accomplished? I think if there ever was a time that is exceedingly favorable for this industry it is now.
Commencing with Landseer’s Fancy, then giving about thirty pounds of milk per day, which made under test 14 pounds 6 ounces in one week, I fed and developed her through a long series of years, using more and more concentrated food and less bran, until in the end she was capable of digesting two gallons at a feed, equal parts corn and oats, with one-half gallon of bran (pure wheat bran), and when making her maximum amount of butter—29 pounds one-half ounce—was giving only from twenty to twenty-three pounds of milk per day, and subsequently went as low as seventeen or eighteen pounds of milk per day, holding her own with regard to the butter. So it will be seen that from the commencement she lost in quantity of milk, but under such feed gained in butter. Her milk was so remarkably rich as also her daughter, Toltec’s Fancy’s milk, that, for a long time having the test questioned notwithstanding the fact that she had always proven by repeated official tests all claims made for her, finally resorted to glass jars made of heavy glassware wherein her whole milk was placed after each milking and placed under seal as usual in official tests so that when lifted from the water the line of cream and milk would be seen, and it was demonstrated that it was almost entirely cream, being about three-fourths to seven-eighths cream. This cow was exceptional, or I might say, her whole family was exceptional in such remarkable rich production. But she handed down to her descendants the same tendency to richness in other hands long years afterwards. She has two sons with over seventy daughters in the honor roll of the Jerseys, and five daughters all in the fourteen-pound class and upwards, and it would be hard to give a list of her descendants in the fourteen-pound class. I should say something over two hundred. This cow, with others handled by me, was fed according to the capacity of each cow to digest the corn and oats ground together, with grass, hay and running water at will. On this point I cannot too strongly emphasize the fact that Tennessee is better located and supplied with running water than any place I have ever seen. With all the bluegrass and other facilities of Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, they lack running water for the cows to drink and the running water to set the milk in.
I have tried every known experiment in raising the cream on the milk for the best results, but in all I have ever tried I have never found anything equal to the stone spring-house with wire gauze over the windows to keep out all insects, ceiled overhead with plank (not plastered), and set the milk in jars, either stone or glass, when first drawn from the cow warm, in the water about 56 to 59 degrees temperature. The temperature of the milk soon becomes the same temperature as the water and remains stationary until all the cream is raised in the milk. The current of water keeps the air in the spring-house fresh and clean and every facility is given for the production of butter.
In building the various spring-houses that I used on the different farms at different times, I always used what is known as the test-room, about six feet wide across the entire spring-house, a wall of brick or stone cemented inside and out, with only one door and window in the same, both of which could be placed under seal by any committee called to test the cattle at any time, or used by myself and manager in making private tests, so that the milk of the cow under test could be kept absolutely untampered with by any person. And the tests made by me were made in this way and verified by various committees and also by chemical analysis. So that when I went out of breeding Jerseys I know that I had more official tests than any Jersey breeder, and probably at one time as much as all combined.
I believe in the theory that especial families of Jerseys are capable of being fed so as to grow richer after long continued feed. Some will not. There is a limit that will be found in nearly all of them.
In testing cattle it was always my purpose to ascertain the maximum of food capable of being digested by any cow under test, and fall slightly below this quantity of feed so as to keep her appetite always whetted.
Another point was that she be fed regularly and preferably, not over twice a day with concentrated foods, and thus giving the stomach all the time to do its work. I have seen many a test disturbed by feeding only a small amount of grain at the dinner time out of order. It disturbs the entire digesting of the animals and will probably throw them off a day or two. When undisturbed, the same cow will come up at night and take her regular feed and not be disturbed in her test at all. It may be thought that this is going into detail too much, but small details sometimes have wonderful influence in handling any animal. A horse may be just on edge for a race and some small circumstance occur that disturbs it. So with the wonderful mechanism of the cow making her four pounds of butter per day, she must be handled very carefully.
But it may be said, what profit is there in all this? My reply is that if Landseer’s Fancy had not been tested as she was and thoroughly developed her descendants might have passed unnoticed and we would have been none the wiser as to the capabilities of this family. I have taken her as an instance because more familiar with her history than others, and because she was the hub around which the herd revolved. I paid $175 for her, and, on calculation of her descendants owned by me and sold to others, she realized nearly $30,000 without any calculation as to her milk and butter. She entered into and formed the web and woof of what was known as The Columbia Jersey Cattle Company’s herd. She was sold subsequently when that corporation was wound up to Messrs. Webster and Morrow and entered the great herd at Nashville.