LIVE STOCK. 93 



creameries witli artificial cold, and nil tlic latest impnivemcnts in 

 dairying, are also being- establislird. Tlu' uutinit of dairy produce is 

 yearly on the increase, and large nunibi'rs of cattle are' rf(|uirc«l to 

 improve and maintain the character and strength of our dairy herds. 

 It was estimated that at the 3 1st December, 189 J., there were •1-:>H,21 1 

 dairy cows in the Colony, and they principally consisted of wliat innv 

 be termed the Grade Shorthorn, with not unt'req\iently a dash of the 

 Ayrshire, obtained from the early importations of that breed. In soine 

 few instances the herds are almost pnro Shorthorns. Of late years, 

 however, considerable nnnibers of Ayrshire and some Alderney' liulls 

 have been introdnced into what may be termed the Australian dairy 

 herds with good results, so far as the dairy produce is concerned, though 

 not as regards the steers. Still, as dairy produce pays better than veal 

 or beef, the introduction of the pure milking breeds — or, at least, the 

 breeding of cattle for milk instead of beef — is bound to go on and 

 increase, especially as our dairymen are coming to see that if they ar.* 

 to make their business pay, they must go veiy much more extensiyely 

 than they have been doing into providing cultivated food for the cows 

 during winter. Our dairymen in many parts of the Colony have been 

 altogether too slow to see and attend to this, and it is not an unusual 

 thing to find that even in districts in which dairying is the princii)al 

 industry only a very few dairymen provide winter food for their cows. 

 The results are, that the owners have little or no butter to disjiose of when 

 it brings the best price ; their cows, if they have not died of staryation, 

 are '' bags of bones " by the end of winter ; and the spring has run into 

 summer before they are in a condition to give a full yield of good milk. 



The Ayrshire, Alderney, and Holstein Breeds. — Although during 

 the last forty or fifty years several Ayrshire and some Alderney and 

 other Channel Island cattle were introduced from Great Britain, it is not 

 more than fifteen or twenty years ago that pure herds of these breeds 

 were formed in this Colony. Two or three were so about that time, 

 and several others have been established since, the owners of which have 

 imported some highly-bred stock of both breeds, but more Ayrshires 

 than Alderneys. A good many Ayrshires have also been introduced 

 from New Zealand, where large numbers of Ayrshires of the Ijest types 

 were imported from Scotland. We have also several re])ri'sentatiycs 

 of the Holstein breed, which has such a strong hold in the dairies of 

 Holland, Germany, and Denmark, but as yet in too few numbers for our 

 dairymen to know how the breed will be liked. 



Market Prices of Cattle /S'^oc/v.— First-class pedigree cattle— Bulls, 

 £20 to £100 ; cows and heifers, £10 to £10. Well-bred goo.l herd 

 cattle— Bulls, £G to £12 ; cows and heifers, £2 10s. to £5. Store cattle- 

 Bullocks, 40s. to 60s.; cows, 30s. to 40s. Fat cattle— Bullocks, it to 

 £7 ; cows, £2 10s. to £5. Dairy cow^s— £1 to £10. 



Sheep. 



The Estahlishment and the Maintenance of our Me rhm W»"l- 



groicing Industry. 



There can be no question whatever that to Captain ^Facarthur we 



owe the establishment of this industry, which has done, and i< doing, 



and must continue to do so very much for the Colony. 



