CATTLE. 3 



as far as practicable a union and harmony of all the good qualities in the breed, and such as 

 when ceasing to be profitable in yielding milk, will fatten readily, and bring a good price for 

 beef in the market. In other cases the butter qualities will be regarded as most essential, 

 and the selection should be made with special reference to this object. While the beef and 

 dairy qualities are in a strict sense antagonistic, and therefore generally regarded as incom 

 patible, they will be found to be combined in a much greater proportion in some breeds than 

 others. &quot;Writers generally divide British breeds of cattle into four distinct classes: the short- 

 horned, middle-horned, long-horned, and polled or hornless. The authority previously 

 quoted says of these classes: 



&quot;They all have, or until recently, had their own various localities and districts in the 

 several parts of England and Scotland, where they have existed from a remote period. Each 

 were favorites among the farmers and breeders of their homes, rarely taken out of their dis- 

 tricts, except for market, and until after the middle of the last century, like the people who 

 reared them, strangers to other parts of the kingdom, and migrating back and forth no farther 

 than to the nearest market towns, or district fairs. Thus they became homogeneous, deeply 

 interbred among their own tribes, and closely retaining their own distinctive qualities, uncon- 

 taminated by the blood of other breeds, and transmitting their qualities and characteristics 

 with a pertinacity and truth, of which those giving the subject little study can scarce realize. 

 As such they have come to us, and only as such we know them.&quot; 



The most numerous of the improved breeds in this country, are the Short-Horn, Devon, 

 Ayrshire, Jersey or Alderney, while the Hereford, the Dutch, the Guernsey, and the Swiss, 

 are found to a certain extent. Besides these the Brittany, Galloway or Polled, Kerry, and 

 other less common breeds are occasionally seen. 



Adaptation of Breeds to Localities. It is very important, in order to secure the 

 highest success in either beef production or the dairy product, that the selection of breeds 

 should be made with due regard to locality and the attendant conditions; for while all the 

 improved breeds have their peculiar characteristics and good qualities, some are much better 

 adapted to certain localities than others, possessing in the abstract equal or perhaps superior 

 qualities. For example, it will be found that in those localities where grass is not abundant, 

 and pasturage poor, a small or medium-sized breed can be better sustained from such lands, 

 and more milk in proportion to the food consumed be obtained, than from the largest sized 

 breeds. In the great variety of our climate and soil, there will, therefore, be found localities 

 more or less adapted to all our improved breeds, a fact that has been well set forth by one of 

 the leading Western journals, in the following: 



&quot; All breeds cannot be equally appropriate for all places. Where food is scanty, and the 

 land rough or hilly, the small breeds are undoubtedly best adapted to the situation. These 

 are nimble in climbing steeps, and thrive on scantier herbage .than the large-formed and 

 heavy-bodied breeds. Such localities are better adapted to daiiying as a speciality than beef 

 growing; and here is a natural adaptation for the Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey, Devon, Kerry } 

 and Swiss cows, or crosses of these upon mixed stock. As grain is not so largely raised here, 

 special fattening for beef would not, perhaps, be very profitable; yet we always advise the 

 joining of dairying and beef growing, so far as to make a proper use of all the calves, and of 

 fattening the dry cows. In this case beef production is a mere incident to the main busi 

 ness of dairying profitable in that connection, but not as separated from it. These breeds 

 may be fed to a weight, in the cows, of 800 to 1,000 Ibs., and the males from 1,100 to 1,400 

 Ibs. at three years old, or 800 to 1,200 Ibs. at two years old, and the latter system may be 

 followed with profit. The refuse of the dairy will furnish a large portion of the food for the 

 first six months, and, besides grass and hay, only a few bushels of grain or other food will be 

 required to fit them for market. And as these lands are found principally in the Eastern 

 States, all the beef, young or old, finds a ready market within a few miles of the producer. 



