In spite of the gamble involved in buying at sales I felt my capital was not enough to enable me to do much buying privately from breeders. I thought I knew enough about cattle to avoid the worst troubles. Yet there was hardly an animal of the foundation cattle of my Jersey herd which did not have some trouble, and of about fifty females I bought in the first five years, only three of them stayed five years and what is more they stayed only as a result of my own success with the natural treatment of disease. One of them was sterile, another a habitual milk fever case, and the third had mastitis in two quarters when I got her home from a sale. All the others, bought both privately and at sales, have left this life because they suffered from some defect of health.
I do strongly advise newcomers to pedigree breeding to place themselves in the hands of a reputable breeder and take what heifers he can offer at a reasonable price, or let him find someone else's worth buying and pay him for doing it. It will be money well spent if you can persuade an experienced man to do it. I fear, however, most breeders would consider it too much of a responsibility.
When I wanted to buy a bunch of heifers in Jersey I had no knowledge of conditions there and employed a breeder to conduct me from farm to farm and seek out suitable animals for sale at the price I was prepared to pay. At the end of a day touring the island and buying ten heifers I paid him £35 commission. At the time I was most reluctant to do so. But the animals did survive which is more than could be said for those I bought myself in England.
In England I didn't think myself in need of expert advice, and in consequence I paid very much more the other way by buying animals entirely on my own responsibility and taking the very costly consequences.
I followed both systems referred to in establishing my herd. I bought privately seven bulling heifers, and their half-brother. They were run with their half-brother with the idea of starting a breeding policy a step ahead of myself, so to speak. It didn't come off, for each one of these heifers produced either a dead calf, or a bull, and all but one died before they produced me a single live heifer calf. Of my original nucleus of heifers I have no descendant for most of them had had husk when I bought them, though it was not evident at the time. They nearly all got into a serious condition with parasitic pneumonia and became useless before calving their second calves. One died of acetonaemia (my first case and the only one I've failed with). One only survived. So much for my efforts to establish a line bred herd. But I still believe the best method of starting is the purchase of heifers from a reliable breeder with, if necessary, the assistance of another experienced breeder.
The other way—buying old cows—brought me almost as much trouble but it did produce some calves and it was really from this miscellaneous collection of old cows that I built my present herd. This is a slower way of establishing a herd, for unless the cows are all of similar strains, the concentrating of characteristics cannot be controlled except through the bull. This means that the first crop of heifers carry only a half of the particular breeding that is wanted, whereas in the case of heifers of the same strain as the bull the resulting heifers carry a double concentration of the breeding. And if both the bull and the heifers are themselves line bred from consistently healthy long-lived and good-producing animals then profitable and consistent breeding is almost certain to continue. But few of us can expect our herd building to start so well. Mine, by the failure of the vital nucleus of heifers which I got to mate with the bull, certainly didn't, so I got off to a one-legged start; it did nevertheless enable me to introduce a slightly different strain to improve the one I had originally chosen, and by this blend of breeding develop my own strain of strong-bodied efficient converters of home-grown food, which I could not have found ready-made for me in any of the recognized strains, and certainly not in the fashionable strains.
The question of whether or not to pay high prices is one which must trouble those with the money available. For the man with limited capital the problem is whether to buy a few at the top prices, or more at lower prices. For both types of buyers, it is wise to get the best that money can buy and few rather than many. A few good cows, done well, will pay better than a lot of second-rate animals done moderately well. The animals which make record prices at auction sales may be left well alone, for the price is probably being paid for some fashion fad or some freak performance. The payers of record rices are generally wealthy industrial magnates and not sound judges of a good cow, though they often employ men who are sound judges. An alternative policy, if financially possible, is to buy young animals (stirks, perhaps) and only a very few milkers. That means waiting two years or more before the herd begins to become a milk-producing unit: and of course it requires capital. But decide upon the cows you really want, with the help of an experienced breeder if necessary, and be prepared to pay well. The few comparatively high-priced animals will multiply more quickly than you would imagine and patience in accepting a rather lower milk cheque for the sake of really sound animals will be well repaid in the quality and value of the resultant home-bred heifers.
If you must have a good-sized milk cheque coming in, then hang on to some of your best yielding commercial cows (if you are changing over from a commercial to a pedigree herd), or if you are starting from scratch, buy a few heavy yielding old cows which have two or three lactations to come. Whether or not these old cows are of the chosen breed, or commercial cross-bred animals, will depend on the price at which they can be found, and whether or not you have the patience to tolerate a mixed herd for a number of years.
Having a Shorthorn and Friesian cross-bred herd and being very limited for capital when I decided to change over to pedigree Jerseys I had not much choice in the matter. I bought my bunch of seven heifers and their half-brother for the nucleus of my future herd and then, in order to keep the income going I brought in old Jersey cows as I sold out the cross-breds. But I made the mistake in the beginning of buying freshly calved old cows in order to get milk quickly and many of them had obviously been sold as difficult or declining breeders. For in some cases they never bred again. There can be no means of protecting the buyer against breeders who sell animals which have finished breeding, but it is hard on a young farmer, just starting with very limited capital, to have to pay an established and successful breeder 100 guineas, as I did on one occasion in the early years, when 100 guineas was not a modest price to anyone and was a small fortune to me, and to have no redress. It is part of the game at the moment. But the time must come when sales under the auspices of the breed societies are confined to cattle guaranteed in udder, breeding and milk yield. Anything which cannot be so guaranteed must go into the commercial market and be bought by the man who has the money to squander or the courage to take a chance. But I have more to say on the need of cattle sales reforms later (see page 47. Chapter 5.)
If, instead of freshly calved animals, in-calvers are bought, at least one has the chance of getting a heifer calf should the cow herself prove to be a bad breeder. But the risk with in-calvers is that they are being sold for udder trouble, which will fire up when the udder freshens for calving. It is therefore doubly necessary in buying dry in-calf cows to examine the udder with extreme care. Experience of my mastitis treatment (page 126) will give confidence to buy animals in spite of threatened mastitis for if the cow is treated immediately she calves there is no reason why she shouldn't be cured. But for buyers who as yet have no experience of my treatments, more caution is necessary. Defects to guard against are hardening or thickening of the teat channel or pea-like lumps or obstructions in the teat channel. When the liquid is drawn from the teats it should be a sticky, gummy 'honey' which, though clear with a heifer in calf for the first time, will be slightly cloudy with a cow that has had a calf. Avoid the watery or highly coloured discharge. Be confident with the clearer honey-like discharge which indicates a dry udder in perfect health which will not go down with any kind of trouble at calving time.
Other important guides to the health and productive ability of a cow may be mentioned here as a help to prospective buyers, for little enough protection is given to the buyer and while breed societies are governed by vendors I see no great prospect of improvement. These points do not strictly come under the eye of the judge in the show ring, so I mention them now, instead of in my chapter on judging.
The vulva should be soft, pliable and a healthy pink colour when the folds are drawn apart. A tough leathery or hardened vulva with pale coloration is one of the signs of a difficult breeder, for it is the mirror of an unhealthy uterus within. Spots of catarrh or discoloured discharge from the vulva or on the walls of the vagina when opened for examination are an indication of leucorrhea or other uterine discharge which while it continues will prevent breeding.
Any discharge from a cow close to or just after calving should be clear and free from white flecks. Any discoloration or catarrhal appearance is a sure sign of a diseased uterus. This is not to say that it cannot be cured; it quite easily can be by my treatment for sterility (page 134), but allowance should be made for this in estimating the value of the cow.
Fat around the tail setting and pin bones is a sign of sluggish reproductive organs. A bony tail setting and pin bones with complete absence of surplus flesh or fat in those regions are the mark of a good breeder and hard-working cow.
Tail setting. A definite dip in front of the tail setting or farther forward or a very marked sagging of the loins may mean a mechanical interference with the proper functioning of the uterus and should be avoided.
The swollen or 'big' knee, though very occasionally due to a knock, is almost invariably caused by an accumulation of toxins in the system. The gathering of this accumulation around the knee joint is nature's protection for the reproductive organs and lungs of the cow. But it is an obvious sign that the cow is in a toxic condition and would benefit by an internal cleansing treatment such as I have set out for sterility (page 134). It is almost certain that, though at the outset a big knee is harmless, if the feeding and general management which gave rise to it are persistently continued, the ability of the system to localize the accumulation in places where it can do little or no harm will be lost, for there is a limit to the amount of rubbish the system can deal with. After the knees—the uterus or lungs must be used as channels of discharge; then real trouble follows.
Eyes should be bright and intelligent. If you can't get a clear and colourful reflection of yourself in the cow's eye she can't be in good health. A dull eye is the window of a sour stomach and a sad heart; pass it by!
Mouth. Teeth should be straight, evenly placed in the gum, and of course, all there. Jaws should meet evenly all round and be neither under nor overshot. Either of these faults will interfere with grazing, though the cow could live well on hay, silage and other stall feeding, and such an animal, if born into the herd, should not be destroyed. Indeed some calves may be born with undershot jaws which correct themselves as they grow older.
Skin must be thin, loose and pliable, especially over the ribs. A handful of skin pulled away from the ribs should come away easily, feel silky in the fingers, and go back like soft elastic when released.