LIVE STOCK breeders' ASSOCIATION. 149 



THE BEST TYPE OF COW FOR THE MIDDLE WEST. 



(W. p. Harned, Vermont, MoO 



Ever since the days of Jacob and Rachael and the striped sticks 

 in the watering trough, the cow question in some phase or other has 

 been under consideration. 



From that early day down to the present the calf trade, the cow 

 trade and the beef trade have flourished and grown. Our subject 

 does not deal with the right or the wrongs of manipulating the trade 

 in the finished product, but rather with the particular type of animal 

 or class of machine that converts ti:*^ feed from the farm into this 

 finished product. It is entirely proper to consider the domestic cow 

 in the light of an economical machine moulded by man to manufacture 

 milk, butter and beef from corn, grass and hay — the raw material — 

 not forgetting that the cow is an animate machine susceptible to kind 

 treatment, good care, and we believe, even affection. After all, how- 

 ever, the whole problem is summed up in the text, "The Highest 

 Class of Article With the Least Cost of Production." Hence economy 

 is the purpose and improvement is the method. 



With the changed conditions that have come about of higher land 

 and higher labor and a denser population, I assume that the best type 

 of cow for the middle states is the dual purpose cow ; the real dual purpose 

 in her improved form ; a high class carcass of beef with a good supply 

 of milk. She is the poor man's cow and she is the cow for the average 

 farmer. As land grows higher she becomes more and more a necessity 

 and all the more valuable. It is still argued by some that such a type 

 is not practical, and that the production of one is antagonistic to the 

 development of the other. Be that as it may, this type has been pro- 

 duced very successfully and is still among us, though not in as large 

 numbers as the special purpose type. 



I cannot concede that the development of the real dual purpose 

 cow is impractical and inconsistent, as we have living examples of 

 animals that are high class at either purpose. One that has been illus- 

 trated extensively of late in the live stock journals is Mr. Duthie's 

 White Heather, a cow that has won many first prizes, at the leading 

 beef shows in England, while also beating all competitors at the great 

 dairy tests. It will not do to estimate her a sport or freak, as she was 

 bred for that purpose from ancestors of that stamp. 



Neither do I believe, as claimed, that the development of the 



