The American Association of Breeders of Dutch Friesian Cattle, composed of some of the most practical and intelligent farmers of the dairy region of central New York, have adopted a new set of rules for entry into registry in their Herd Book, wisely making the performance at the pail one of the necessary requirements. Thus, for a period of not more than twelve months from date of calving, the cow under 2½ years of age must give 6,000 lbs. of milk; over 2½, and under 3½, 7,000 lbs; over 3½, and under 4½, 8,000 lbs; over 4½, 9,000 lbs; also, rule 8: No animal shall be admitted to registry unless of the “milk form,” or of the “combined milk and beef form,” of medium or of large size, without coarseness, and if a female, having a well developed escutcheon, not below the 4th order of the 1st class, the 3d orders of the 2d, 3d 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th classes, the 2d order of the 9th class, or the 1st order of the 10th class of the Pennsylvania Commission. With such a record, and with such marks, no one need take the trouble to see the stock, but may safely order it, knowing exactly what they are to receive.
George E. Waring, junior, says:
“If the escutcheon teaches anything it teaches the duration of the flow of milk. This is its great value in connection with the Jerseys—a race of small, rich, and persistent milkers. It does indicate quantity, it is true, but not Dutch quantity, nor Ayrshire quantity; only Jersey quantity, which is quite another affair. It indicates, in at least equal degree, the continuance of the flow of milk. Indeed, this is the great value of Guenon’s discovery. It is easy to judge of the present flow of milk in the case of any given cow, but, so far as I know, there is nothing but the escutcheon to tell us how long she will continue to milk after getting with calf. If she has a first class escutcheon, I think we are safe in believing that she will hold out well in her milking. If she has a very defective escutcheon, we may depend on her to fall away very rapidly when a few months gone, and to shut down entirely three or four months before calving.”
From an exhaustive and admirable treatise on the Ayrshire breed, by John D. W. French, of North Andover, Mass., we make the following extracts from his remarks on the Guenon system:
“Pabst, a German farmer of large experience, with a view to simplify the method of Guenon, and render it of greater practical value, made five divisions, or classes:—
- 1. Very good, or extraordinary.
- 2. Good, or good middling.
- 3. Middling, and little below middling.
- 4. Small.
- 5. Very bad milkers.
“Magne, the French writer, made a still further simplification, by making four classes instead of five:—
- 1. The very good.
- 2. The good.
- 3. The medium.
- 4. The bad.
“In the first class he places cows, both parts of whose milk-mirror, the mammary and the perinean, are large, continuous, uniform, covering at least a great part of the perineum, the udder, the inner surface of the thighs, and extending more or less out upon the legs with no interruptions, or, if any, small ones, oval in form, and situated on the posterior face of the udder. Cows of this class are very rare. They give, even when small in size, from ten to fourteen quarts per day, and the largest size from eighteen to twenty-six quarts a day, and even more. They continue in milk for a long period.