14 A STUDY OF FARM ANIMALS 



lieve the statement to be true. The average person in the 

 United States eats about 150 pounds of meat a year. With 

 a population in excess of one hundred million people, it can 

 be easily understood that an enormous number of animals 

 must be slaughtered for food each year. 



There is also another important source of food from ani- 

 mals, that of milk and its products. Cattle have been so 

 improved since domestication began, that to-day we have 

 cows producing remarkable yields of milk. A yield of 5,000 

 pounds of milk a year is very common; a large number of 

 cows have produced 10,000 pounds; a yield of 15,000 pounds 

 of milk in a year from a single animal is no longer remark- 

 able. Milk is a very nutritious liquid food, and supplies a 

 place in human diet unequaled by any other substance. 

 From milk is manufactured cheese, a valuable food that in 

 Europe very generally takes the place of meat among the 

 laboring classes. Butter, also a product of milk, is so greatly 

 in demand that thousands of creameries engage in its pro- 

 duction. In 1920, there were over twenty million cows and 

 heifers kept in the United States, primarily for milk. Ten 

 states had over one million dairy cows each. 



The use of animals for labor no doubt dates from pre- 

 historic days when man subdued the horse. With the culti- 

 vation of the fields, both cattle and horses became beasts of 

 burden and laborers in the fields. Cattle are commonly 

 used for labor in parts of Europe, even dairy cows some- 

 times being employed to draw loads. Oxen were much used 

 in pioneer days for draft work in America, but have been 

 generally discarded on account of their slowness, yet even 

 to-day they may be seen serving in place of horses in some 

 parts of our country. In the pioneer settlement of America, 

 the ox team proved a very important means of transporta- 

 tion through the forests and across the wide western prairies. 

 The great endurance, steady habits, and ease of keep, make 

 the ox a favorite with the pioneer. 



