BREEDS 165 



public sales for specimens of the breed are justified on account 

 of the animals possessing dual-purpose capacity. If by dual- 

 purpose capacity it is meant to imply the power of breeding 

 steers fit for the feeder and butcher, it can only be replied that 

 the claim is made without any sound evidence to support it. 



It was rumoured at the time of the famous sale of imported 

 stock in 1914 that the Government had made this most excep- 

 tional concession in favour of the breeders of this variety for 

 the sake of the cattle export trade ; if this was so, well and good. 

 I happened to be in South Holland, North Holland and Fries- 

 land at the same time as commissioners from America, Russia, 

 Japan and South Africa who were buying these cattle, and I 

 never heard the dual capacity of the breed mentioned. All 

 reference to the animal's merits was confined to the records of 

 milk-yield and butter-fat tests held by various females in their 

 pedigree. I am, therefore, not a little apprehensive that the 

 merits of the breed as beef-producers have been urged with a 

 view to securing the custom of our home tenant-farmers. If this 

 apprehension is well founded, it is very deplorable; for, if we 

 are to avoid the evils of the past, the home husbandry should be 

 our first claim. 



No one will question the value of the export trade. But if 

 our future husbandry is to be as productive as possible, the 

 subordination of the tenant-farmer's interests to the demands 

 of the overseas trade must be carefully avoided. The greatest 

 possible credit is due to the body of pedigree-breeders who have 

 captured and held the export business, for the animals they have 

 sent all over the world have deservedly won unstinted admira- 

 tion ; but the demand they have thus supplied is not necessarily 

 the same as that which should come from their neighbours. In 

 the past, the home supply of suitable stock has been inadequate, 

 while the customers from overseas have been fully and admir- 

 ably satisfied. There is no need whatever to curtail the efforts 

 of those who wish to continue the overseas trade; there is, in 

 fact, every reason to encourage them, but the home supply 

 must, if we are to maintain ourselves in the forefront of nations, 

 be for, the future the first consideration of those responsible for 

 the advancement and improvement of our breeds of cattle. 



