340 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



and their total values. As a rule the values quoted are under rather 

 than over the present actual selling values of the stock. Indeed, 

 many breeders say, when they make their reports, that the stock is 

 really worth more than the prices they mention. 



The accompanying statements illustrate accurately the beginning, 

 rise, and in some instances the decline in popularity of the breeds 

 represented, although a mere increase or decrease in the number of 

 pedigrees offered for registration in any one year, for any breed, is 

 not necessarily a true index of the number of animals of that breed 

 born in that year. Any one of several causes may deter breeders 

 from incurring the expense of putting pedigrees on record. One of 

 the chief of these causes is lack of demand strong enough to take 

 all the stock at remunerative prices; but it is evident that when- 

 ever the demand for such stock shall become active enough to insure 

 sale at profitable figures, the pedigrees of such unregistered animals 

 may be sent forward for registration. They would indicate an in- 

 creased popularity for the breed, but would of course not show any 

 increased productiveness of the herds. Some breeders neglect re- 

 cording the pedigrees of their purely-bred stock until a desire to sell 

 the animals makes such registration necessary. This is apparently 

 more generally true of owners of Shorthorns than of any other race, 

 unless it be the Ayrshires. In such cases the herd-books fail utterly 

 to truly represent the actual number of cattle of pure breeding in 

 the land. There is also a large number of people who never record 

 the pedigrees of their stock in the herd-books published, but some of 

 this class carefully keep private records of the breeding of their 

 animals. It is beyond, a doubt that more breeders of Shorthorns 

 than of any other race do this. 



The first two tables for each breed give, under appropriate head- 

 ings, the number of cows and of bulls born in each State in the year 

 represented by those columns. The first column of the third table 

 of each set gives the total number of animals recorded of the breed 

 represented; the second table shows the number recorded from each 

 State; the third column shows the average of all the values put on 

 these cattle, usually by the owners of the stock. The last column 

 shows the total value for each State. 



The figures representing the total available supply of cattle of all 

 breeds, eligible for registration in the herd-books of this country, 

 appear to show clearly that there are not in the whole United States 

 enough animals of pure blood to serve fully the purpose of improv- 

 ing the common stock in the land; nor would there be if every calf 

 born of these pure breeds were saved and used to its utmost capacity 

 for breeding. The summary of bulls shows that there were last 

 year of recorded males only 48,109, and of cattle of all breeds eligi- 

 ble for registration the whole number reported is only 146,639. Of 

 these 99,638 are of a single breed. 



Questions addressed to thousands of breeders, most of them care- 

 ful observers who have had long experience in the live-stock business, 

 elicited replies which show that the yield of milk by the offspring of 

 native or unimproved cows, coupled with purely-bred bulls of dairy 

 breeds, is from 25 to 100 per cent, greater than that from unimproved 

 or common native stock. The general average increase of yield of 

 milk resulting from the use of such bulls on native cows, has been, 

 for the whole country, 55.94 per cent. The yield of butter is in- 

 creased, by the same cause, 69.78 per cent., and that of cheese, 39.28 

 per cent. 



