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Rural School Leaflet 



V. THE DISTRIBUTION OF COWS 



E. S. Savage 



The cattle-bearing sections of the United States. — There are in the United 

 States about fifteen million cows, both beef and dairy. The question 

 naturally arises, in what States are they found? There are some cows 

 in every State; but there arc six States in the Union that deserve the 

 title " The Six Great Dairy States," and five States that deserve the 

 title " The Five Great Beef States." The great agricultural State of 

 Iowa is found in both these lists; therefore is has the title " The Greatest 

 Stock-Growing State." Texas, also, is found in both lists, but it does 

 not stand so high as Iowa because of the vastness of its area. 



Based on ntmiber of cows, Wisconsin is the greatest dairy State in 

 the Union, with 1,626,000 cows, according to the figures given in the 

 Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture for 191 4. 

 New York has 1,509,000; Iowa, 1,377,000; Minnesota, 1,186,000; Texas, 

 1,086,000; and IlHnois, i ,.007,000. No other State has a million dairy 

 cows. 



In nimibers of beef cows, Texas outranlvs the others by far, having 

 2,469,321 head. It must be remembered that the area of Texas is 

 vast. Nebraska has 705,191 beef cows; Iowa, 614,930; Kansas, 558.153". 

 and Montana, 372,798. No other State in the Union has more than 

 200,000 beef cows. Thus it is seen that, in this country, cattle are raised 

 in largest numbers in the northern tier of States and in the Mississippi 

 Valley. 



Elgin, Illinois, is the greatest butter market in the United States, and 

 the Elgin Board of Trade governs the price of butter in the ]\Iiddle West. 

 New York City is the greatest milk-consuming city in the United States. 

 Chicago is the greatest market for beef cattle. Other great beef markets 

 are Kansas City, St. Louis, and St. Joseph. Buffalo has a large beef- 

 cattle market. Of course all the larger cities are great markets for raw 

 milk and for beef in retail form. 



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