PROFITS OF NATIVE CATTLE. 39 



Such might be supposed the rule. That there have been, and 

 still are, many exceptions to the above somewhat broad remark, 

 is admitted, but these exceptions are of stock belonging to pains- 

 taking individuals and communities in the best cattle rearing 

 districts, rather than among the farmers generally. 



As to the profit of breeding, rearing, and fattening cattle of 

 the lower qualities above noticed, perhaps the less said the 

 better. That there was not, and is not any profit in them, com- 

 pared with well selected, and well bred animals of the kind, is 

 certain. They are great consumers of food in proportion to the 

 flesh they carry, as a beef animal; and although numerous 

 instances of wonderful feats at the pail have been recorded of 

 the cows, yet the uncertainty of even these good cows pro- 

 ducing an offspring equally meritorious, has been an utter bar to 

 establishing a race, from among themselves, of superior, or even 

 standard value for the dairy. It is a chance medley affair 

 altogether a mere ticket in a lottery, the chances of drawing 

 a blank greater than that of a prize. 



To the farmer, then, desirous of getting a foundation for a 

 profitable stock, either for beef, working oxen, or the dairy, 

 from such incongruous intermixtures, his chances are, at the best, 

 precarious. He may make selections from them, perhaps, which 

 will promise something, and by a long course of pains-taking he 

 may improve them to some perceptible extent ; but at the end 

 of a lifetime he will find the same things on his hands at last. 

 Thus, his efforts will prove, in the absence of really good breeds 

 crossed upon them, a failure. That he may make selections 

 ot cows from such stock, on which, with the use of bulls of good 

 established breeds, he can build up valuable herds for the sham- 

 bles, the yoke, and the dairy, is certain. These native cows, 

 from the necessities of the case, must be the foundation on 

 which he must rely for that purpose, the manner of which we 

 shall more thoroughly discuss hereafter. 



