No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AciJvU'UJ/rURE. 89 



tary to the greiit cattle market at Chicajj^o. Tli« luiinbei- of cows 

 bi'ouglit aiiniiallv to Pennsylvania in this way amounts to from 

 15,000 to l!0,00(). There are many sections of rennsylvania admir- 

 ably adapted to the ])rodn('tion of cows for this use where the in- 

 dustry is but little cultivated or is ignored. 



A\'liether based upon sutlicient reason or not, there is uo doubt 

 that th(^ dairymen who buy all of their cows and who do not raise 

 their calves, much prefer larger cows that show a preponderance of 

 Shorthorn blood. Such cows, if in good condition, with well-de- 

 veloped udders, of good conformation, and giving promise of large 

 milk yield, generally command the highest ])rices at sales of dairy 

 cows. The reason for this is that when their term of usefulness as 

 dairy cows has passed, they are worth considerable to the butcher, 

 and when beef is high they are sometimes sold, dry, for as much 

 as thej cost, fresh. It would, appear, therefore, to be well for 

 those who wish to (engage in the business of i^roducing cows for 

 sale in the milk-shipping districts to use bulls of one of the breeds 

 of cattle that are large and at the same time are heavy milkers, 

 such as the dairy Shorthorns or the Red-polls. 



On the other hand, farmers who are so situated that they can 

 themsehes raise the cows that they need, appear to derive greatest 

 profit from the use of some one of the special-purpose dairy breeds 

 as the Jersey, Guernsey or Holsteiu-Fresian. It would mean a great 

 deal to the cattle raisers of the State if the money, amounting to 

 millions of dollars, paid for cows from other states, were retained 

 in Pennsylvania. In many districts it would be more profitable to 

 market cattle than to sell crops from the farm, and it would do 

 much to conserve and improve the fertility of the soil. In addition 

 to purchasing dairy cows from other states, Pennsylvania imports 

 every year a large number (from 25,000 to 30,000) steers for feed- 

 ing. If an effort were made to supply the cow market by breeding 

 Shorthorns or Eed-i»olls this would, at the same time, result in the 

 production of a large number of steers valuable for feeding. 



For some reason but little attention has been paid in many parts 

 of Pennsylvania to the production of cattle of a definite type and 

 of high quality. This is in marked contrast with the condition that 

 prevails in the cattle-raising districts of most of the central and 

 western states, where it is the exception to find animals that do 

 not clearly show the prominent characteristics of one of the im- 

 ported breeds. No cattle raiser can afford to use a bull that is 

 not pure-bred and of the best quality obtainable, and after having 

 started in a definite line of breeding, a change should not be made 

 lightly; a change should not be made excepting for the strongest 

 reason. The objection that will be raised to this suggestion is that 

 good bulls are too expensive. A little investigation will show that 



