BREEDING FOR BEEF. . 197 



to stimulate these glands to the greatest possible activity, to 

 increase their natural energy and power of secretion, and 

 to prolong their period of activity. Now, they are so largely 

 subject to hereditary influence, that great progress has been 

 made in increasing their power to perform their natural 

 functions, as we see in the establishment of various breeds of 

 cattle remarkable for milking qualities; while a neglect to 

 develop and encourage the functions of these glands has in 

 some breeds so far reduced their energy and activit}', that 

 whole classes of animals — like the Herefords, the Devons, 

 and to some extent the Short-horns — have ceased to yield 

 milk in quantities. to be profitable upon the dairy farm. 



In those breeds where the tendency to produce meat has 

 been encouraged, where the yield of milk has been overlooked, 

 and sacrificed to early maturity, we could, no doubt, by 

 judicious management, bring the condition of the mammary 

 system to its required standard of efiiciency, and even ele- 

 vate this standard to a high degree ; but we should probably 

 injure or reduce the tendency to the economical supply of 

 meat. We should impair the value of certain very impor- 

 tant qualities which have been highly developed for specific 

 purposes, and should get only what we find already highly 

 developed in other breeds; viz., a tendency to the largest 

 production of milk. Not that the two qualities are irrecon- 

 cilable or incompatible in the same animal, which I do not 

 believe, but that they have not as yet been combined with 

 any degree of success in the meat-producing breeds. "We find 

 generally in practice that a cow that produces a large amount 

 o ' rich butter will, when the secretion of milk falls off, feed 

 mjsl profitably for the butcher, unless there are other coun- 

 teracting or objectionable peculiarities. 



The second object we have in breeding stock is the pro- 

 duction of meat ; and, while upon the general principles of 

 breeding, let me allude to the difference between breeding 

 for the production of milk and the production of meat. For 

 the latter, a large part of the success to be expected will 

 depend upon management, and attention to feeding. It is 

 absolutely essential to keep the animal in a thriving condi- 

 tion from its birth; but still we can exert a powerful influence 

 over the natural predisposition of the animal. We are to 

 choose a female that yields an abundant supply of milk. An 



