STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 515 



lives of these animals. It may not be manifest so conspicuously in after 

 life, yet it affects all theii' relations to tlieir food, care and production. 

 In what does it consist? Is it in possessing what is sometimes called the 

 nervous temperament? Not infrequently we find the offspring of breeds 

 that lay especial claim to this temperament especially lacking in ability 

 to live and rapidly develop without special care. It is a secret force 

 hidden in the breed and in the animal. Perhaps it may be properly called 

 the vital temperament. We claim that the bulls of the Holstein Friesian 

 breed possess this vital force or temperament more strongly than those 

 of any other improved dairy breed. The breeders in Holland and Fries- 

 land have always avoided in-and-in breeding. 



In proof that this breed maintains a high standard of vital force we 

 point to its use in almost every climate, including that of northern Rus- 

 sia, nearly up to the Arctic Circle. Here in America it is as hardy as 

 our native cattle; its calves are raised without difficulty. Taken from their 

 dams at three days old, and reasonably fed on skim milk and a little oil 

 meal, they grow like weeds. Given plenty of food, no matter if much of 

 it is roughage, they develop rapidly. The heifers u^ally drop their calves 

 when about two years of age, and henceforward are profitable to their 

 owners. 



FEEDING QUALITIES. 



These cattle have great digestive and assimilative powers. In regard 

 to the feeding qualities of North Holland or Friesian cattle, the conclu- 

 sion reached in a long period of investigation is as follows: 



During the period of milking the cows appear to be in poor condition, 

 but they fatten readily when dry. They, however, always require an 

 ample supply of food, but are by no means choice as to the quality of the 

 food. I would underscore this last sentence, because it describes the two 

 most important characteristics of profitable dairy animals. There can 

 be no profit in animals that consume only the necessary food of support. 

 The more they can consume, digest and assimilate above this, the more 

 profitable. The other characteristic is in the fact that dairy animals should 

 by no means be choice in the quality of their food. Cows that will freely 

 consume the roughage of our farms, and transform it into valuable prod- 

 ucts — milk, butter, cheese, veal and beef— are more valuabl3 than those 

 that require the costlier commercial feeds. These cattle from calfhood 

 upward are by no means choice in the quality of their food. 



SIZE OF COWS. 



This depends somewhat on the liberality with which they are fed 

 before reaching the age of maturity. In their native homes they are 

 smaller upon the sand and peat lands than on the much more fertile clay 

 lands. This is recognized in admitting animals to their herd-books. The 



