394 EEPOET OF THE BUEEAU OF ANIMAL LNDUSTEY. 



merous of all the breeds and undoubtedly first of the beef breeds, I 

 rank her third of the dairy breeds. Throughout all the great cen- 

 tral dairy region (the second group of States in the table), Short- 

 horns and their grades probably outnumber all other breeds and 

 their grades as five to one. 



The Shorthorn, in her English home, was primarily a dairy ani- 

 mal. Afterward more attention was paid to beef production and the 

 milking propensity was pretty well bred out of many of the families. 

 As we find them in the United States to-day the better class of dairy 

 Shorthorns give a fair amount of milk of good quality. They are 

 large, hardy, and docile, and the numerous grades, when bred to 

 either Holstein or Jersey bulls, produce a very excellent and ex- 

 tremely useful type of dairy cows. 



The Ayrshire is a small, hardy, active cow, chiefly noted as a milk 

 producer. Up to ten or twelve years ago she was a great favorite in 

 the cheese-producing districts of New York and New England, but 

 since then she has been largely supplanted in these districts by the 

 Holstein. Still, she will thrive and give a fair return on pastures 

 and under treatment which would render her Dutch competitor totally 

 unprofitable, and on account of her activity and small size she is a 

 useful animal in the mountainous and more unfertile districts. 



Although the Ayrshire has an especially well-formed udder she 

 has been unpopular with many on account of the extremely small size 

 of her teats and also on account of her nervous and somewhat irrita- 

 ble disposition. The more progressive of the Ayrshire breeders are 

 now paying more attention to docility, size, and large teats, and good 

 results can already be seen in several herds. 



The Guernsey, like her near relative, the Jersey, is a Gutter pro- 

 ducer, and so like her in nearly all respects that what was said of one 

 will very nearly apply to the other. The Guernsey is slightly the 

 larger and by many is considered to be hardier, and yields a more 

 highly colored butter. For some unaccountable reason they have 

 never been as popular as the Jerseys, and are only found in small 

 numbers. 



The sprightly, tidy, ruby-colored Devon is a favorite of the farmer 

 who lives in hilly or mountainous districts. In return for scanty 

 fare she will yield a small amount of rich milk and a small carcass 

 of beef of excellent quality. The steers make the very best of work- 

 ing oxen, being intelligent, active, and docile. 



The other breeds have not as yet been imported in sufficient num- 

 bers to definitely establish their claims on popular favor. 



Throughout the dairy regions of the United States the pastures 

 can not be turned upon before the first of May, and in many portions 

 not until the middle or after. It is a general custom among dairy- 

 men to have the calves dropped during April The cows then go 

 upon grass in the flush of their flow of milk. Ordinarily they receive 

 no feed except the grass that they crop, and during all the early part 

 of the season will do very well on this alone ; but in the latter part of 

 the summer they begin to fail, and give less and less until they go dry 

 in November or early in December. A few of the better class of 

 farmers will supplement their pastures in the fall with fodder corn. 

 Very few feed any grain rations to their cows during the summer. 

 Under this system the cows are dry from four to five months. This is 

 the ordinary practice of the ordinary farmer, especially in the cheese- 

 making districts and the districts where the butter is made on the 

 farm in private dairies. The cheese factories ordinarily only run 



