MICHIGAN LIVE STOCK IN 1900. 369 



style, action, vigor, hardiness, and commands better prices than any 

 other animal that can be bred on the farms of the State. In fact he is 

 an American product, bred for Americans and therefore" best suited 

 for their wants and requirements. He is also the horse that foreiji^u 

 countries will take more of and pay more for than any other. The 

 demand for him must jjjrow from year to year, as a knowledge of his 

 good qualities becomes known abroad. No other breed can ever take 

 his place on this continent. The bred has its faults, and some years 

 ago they were serious ones. The drop in values did much to give 

 breeders a truer opinion of what was wanted in a good horse, and 

 eliminated those animals whose only value was their speed. The ma- 

 jority of them had neither beauty, style or size, frequently had ill- 

 formed hind legs with curby hocks, loosely coupled, and were lacking in 

 substance. But the size has been increased, the angular forms have 

 been rounded out, their legs and feet are excellent, and they have 

 acquired much in beauty and style, A finished standard-bred trotting 

 horse is todav as handsome an animal as stands on iron, and when it 

 comes to a question of utility he is in a class by himself. 



Breeding in this State must be conducted hereafter along lines that 

 will give high class horses. Common horses can be raised so cheaply 

 on the range that Michigan farmers cannot afford to compete with the 

 west in their production. The draft types should be maintained in 

 their purity, whether Percheron, Clyde or Shire, and with them weight 

 and soundness are the great desideratums. This means good care, 

 generous feeding, and holding them on the farm until at least four 

 years old. This class of horses will always be wanted in the big cities 

 of the United States, as well as in Great Britain and on the continent 

 of Europe, and raising them promises to remain a remunerative busi- 

 ness, especially as they cost much less to breed and develop than high- 

 class carriage, roadster, or track horse. , 



CATTLE. 



The cattle business in Michigan has been in a state of transition for 

 the past three years, during which rapid changes have been made in 

 the breeding of the cattle on many farms. Some years ago Michigan 

 was esentially a beef-raising State, with dairying a secondary considera- 

 tion, and the dairyman generally relying upon selected animals of the 

 beef breeds for his purposes. When the west and southwest began 

 sending beef cattle by the thousands to market, and selling them at 

 prices which made the business of raising beef on the high-priced, cul- 

 tivated farms of this and other States unprofitable, there was a general 

 movement started to change from beef-making to dairying. The stand- 

 ard beef breeds, which at that time were represented in the State by 

 numerous grade herds of the highest quality, were gradually sold out 

 and found their way to the butcher, or were crossed with bulls of the 

 dairy breeds, until but few farms in the State, outside of those whose 

 owners had pure bred herds, could show any good beef animals. At 

 the time the change began, besides the large number of grade herds, 

 there were numerous herds of Shorthorns, Herefords, Galloways and 

 Devons owned in the State, the breeds standing in the order named as 

 to numbers. At a State fair held in the early eighties we counted thir- 

 teen herds of Shorthorns, eight of Herefords, four of Galloways and 

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