796 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The Shorthorn's Claims. 



The specific claim of superiority made for Shorthorns is that they 

 come nearer answering every purpose of the farmer and stock grower 

 than any other breed. They arc surpassed by none in the produce 

 of edible beef, while in the moduction of milk Shorthorn cows sur- 



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pass all beef breeds. In scale they are generally conceded to lead 

 their rivals, and in the Xmas issue- of the Breeders' Gazette, Mr. 

 John Clay staled Unit ranchmen who had been using Hereford bulls 

 would be compelled to return to the use of Shorthorns to increase 

 the size of their cattle. 



Gentlemen, you have been entertained and entertained admirably 

 by the speaker who preceded me, and who, according to his standard 

 has forever put to sleep any claim that the Shorthorn breeder might 

 make for her as a dual purpose animal. Now, 1 recognize this fact; 

 that the specialist will succeed in his line. The physician who, after 

 laying a broad foundation as a means of education takes a special 

 course, specializes and prepares himself in some particular line of 

 work will, of course, outstrip in that particular work men who are 

 not specialists. We recognize the fact that the man who attempts 

 to produce the highest type of beef animal, the highest type of dairy 

 animal in the same animal will inevitably fail. That far I endorse 

 what has been said, and endorse it most heartily. We accord to the 

 dairy breed supremacy as dairy cattle, but we do not accord to the 

 beef breeds supremacy in the ultimate test for the beef cattle; but 

 while we accord to the dairy production of butter fat, I cannot and 

 will not admit that it is absolutely impossible to have a dual purpose 

 animal and to have a successful dual purpose animal. I want to 

 saw that a man cannot produce a beef animal that will go to our 

 great contests and there meet the test of the opposing breed and 

 win the prize if he attempts to have that cow give milk. It would 

 be folly, and yet, as a matter of experience as a Shorthorn breeder 

 and as a man who has produced winners in Shorthorn contests, I say 

 it is possible to take an animal, the beef animal that is a remark- 

 able milk producer, and take that animal and make it a winner in 

 a beef contest. I have in my mind now a pair of Shorthorn heifers 

 which I exhibited as calves and as yearlings all over the shows of 

 the West and those two heifers took first and second in every con- 

 test in which they entered. They were relegated to the breeding 

 herd at tw T o years of age, and were not shown. One of those was 

 one of the finest milk producers ever in my herd, and while I patro- 

 nize the creameries I say to the producers, aud I say here, that 

 Shorthorn cow when her calf was three weeks old produced from 

 four to five gallons of milk per day more than that calf took. Is 

 that not a dual purpose cow? Can you point to very many of your 

 own dairv cows that send their butter-fat to the creamerv who will 

 equal the record of that cow? 



MR. LANTZ: Did she keep it up after her calf was six months old? 



MR. COWAN: I took her to the state fairs and in contest with 

 other cows won $370 for her milk production when her calf was six 

 months old. That is milking at least successfully a good length of 

 time. Now, don't understand me to claim the Shorthorn as a dairy 

 cow any supremacy to the dairy breeds. I make no such claim, and 

 the breeders make no such claim. But the Shorthorn breeders of this 

 country do make the claim that they have a dual purpose animal and 



