NUMBER AND VALUE OF PURE-BRED CATTLE IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



United States Commissioner of Agriculture : 



SIR : I have the honor of submitting herewith a statement of the 

 results of inquiries intended to elicit information showing the num- 

 bers, ages, values, and distribution of purely-bred cattle of the sev- 

 eral breeds established in the United States. , 



Letters of inquiry were sent for this purpose to every breeder of 

 such cattle in this country, whose address could be obtained. All 

 other available sources of information were applied to, where there 

 seemed to be reason for supposing that more accurate or full reports 

 than were furnished by owners of the stock could be thus gathered. 

 The information thus obtained has been put into what seems to be 

 the most condensed and useful form practicable. 



It has been deemed best to include in the following tables a count 

 of all animals of pure breeding reported, even though some were not 

 registered in the herd-books. Most owners say that of the animals 

 reported by them all are eligible to record, although some have not 

 been so recorded. 



It seems to be more than probable that the number of animals now 

 in this country, entitled to registration in the herd-books, but not so 

 recorded, is more than equal to the entire number of entries of pedi- 

 grees of cattle born since 1870, included in the subjoined tables, and 

 which have since died. The demand for stock of the classes under 

 consideration has been comparatively light during the last three or 

 four years, and there has therefore been less inducement than there 

 was before to record the pedigree of every calf of pure breeding. 

 Large numbers of young bulls of that class, especially those of 

 Shorthorn, Holstein-Friesian, and Jersey blood, have been used for 

 breeding purposes on the plains of the West, and elsewhere, without 

 being registered. 



It has been considered advisable to include under the heading 

 "1877," in the first column of the following tables, a count of ani- 

 mals born in the years 1870 to 1877, both included. The total num- 

 ber of such pedigrees is small, compared with that of entries in later 

 years, and much exceeded by the number of purely-bred animals of 

 the breeds under consideration which were never recorded. There 

 are a few cows still in bearing that were born before 1875, and re- 

 ports have been received of some which were sixteen years old when 

 their last calves were dropped, in 1886. 



It is believed that the figures given in this report furnish at least 

 a very close approximation to the truth, if they do not show with 

 absolute exactness the number and value of the purely-bred cattle 

 now in the several States of the Union, together with their average 



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