CHAPTER XV 

 CATTLE 



TYPES AND BREEDS 



Breeds. — There are a great many different breeds of 

 cattle, just as there are many different nationahties or races 

 of people. Each breed seems well adapted to the particu- 

 lar community in which it was developed. Animals vary 

 in character with the conditions under which they have 

 developed, which accounts for the fact that all the breeds 

 of cattle have been developed from the original wild cattle. 

 Two men may start out with herds of cattle that are very 

 similar. One will go to a cold, rugged climate, where feed 

 is scarce and conditions are severe. The other may go to a 

 warmer climate, where an abundance of feed is produced. 

 Each man will have a different ideal and each will select 

 the animals each year that will best please him. After sev- 

 eral generations of cattle have been produced the two herds 

 will be quite different. 



Classes of Stock. — Every boy should know the common 

 breeds of cattle, at least by sight and name and also know 

 to what class each belongs. Cattle are commonly classed as 

 beef cattle, those selected and raised only for meat, dairy 

 cattle, those selected and raised only for milk and butter 

 production, and dual purpose or general purpose cattle, 

 those raised for both dairy products and beef. By far the 

 greater number of cattle in the United States do not belong 

 to any breed, because they have not been carefully bred 

 for any particular purpose, and as a result are by no means 

 uniform in character as pure-bred cattle are. Such cattle 

 are called scrubs. 



Pure-bred cattle have been raised for a long time, that 

 is, for many generations, by men who have had a definite 

 object or ideal in view. All the animals that have not 

 appeared or performed up to the ideals of their owners have 

 been sold. Only the select animals were kept. After fol- 

 lowing this practice for very many years all, or very nearly 



