DAIRY CATTLE AND THE DAIRY FARM 111 



.selection which has evolved them has made them productive on light, 

 poor rations. He says further that the French-Canadian cows are worthy 

 of much consideration where a hardy breed of rustlers is required. The 

 individual cow is somewhat small, weighing only 700 to 900 Ib. A bull 

 weighs about 1,000 Ib. In general conformation they are somewhat 

 rough and angular; in the cows the wedge shape is present. The color 

 is black or dark brown. As milk producers they resemble the Jersey 

 though in quantity and quality they fall somewhat behind that breed. 

 An average of 6,500 Ib. of milk of a little over 4 per cent, butterfat is 

 about standard. The herd book dates from 1886 and is kept by the 

 French Canadian Cattle Breeders Association. 



Dual-purpose Cattle. The dual-purpose cattle have been under 

 sharp discussion for a long time. Their advocates claim that they com- 

 bine the desirable features of both the beef and dairy types, the animals 

 being economical milk producers and also valuable meat animals. The 

 opponents of the type vigorously assert that there is no such thing as a 

 dual-purpose animal, that the creatures either run toward beef production 

 or toward milk production and in either case are only mediocre per- 

 formers. At the present time the tendency among the shrewdest farmers 

 is probably to rear either herds of beef or of dairy cattle; at the same 

 time it is recognized that the dual-purpose animals are invaluable to a 

 region that is passing from beef production into dairying. Herdsmen 

 who have been used to the rough-and-ready ways of cattlemen find diffi- 

 culty in turning to the care of heavy milk-producing cows for they need 

 more careful and individual attention. 



Shorthorn. The Shorthorn is the dual-purpose animal that is of 

 greatest importance in milk production. This breed originated in north- 

 eastern England in the counties of York, Durham and Northumberland 

 and has spread over Great Britain and thence over the civilized world. 

 Cattle of this type are believed to have existed previous to 1600. The 

 first Shorthorns were imported to America in Virginia in 1783. The 

 breed is one of the most popular in the United States. As a dairy animal 

 the Shorthorn has had a larger influence in England, where it is a chief 

 dairy cow, than anywhere else and much of the milk shipped to London 

 comes from Shorthorn herds. In the United States, particularly in the 

 central West, a considerable part of the milk supply is furnished by these 

 animals. There are really two classes of Shorthorns; those that are 

 unquestionably of the beef type and those of "milking strain" thai make 

 satisfactory dairy cows. Eckles says that in the United States Shorthorns 

 have been developed almost exclusively for beef production and that 

 consequently the typical purebred animal of this country has no claim 

 to be regarded as a dairy animal but that there is a revival of interest in 

 the milk-producing strain which of late has led to importation of animals 

 of the dairy type. 



