PART II 



BREEDS OF DAIRY CATTLE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE domestic cattle of the world are probably descended from 

 one parent stock, but variation began at a very early period. 

 Through ancient sculptures and other records cattle can be 

 traced back at least four thousand years, and the earliest evi- 

 dence shows that animals of different types were then known. In 

 various parts of the world there are now cattle so distinct in their 

 characteristics as to justify their claim to be regarded as breeds, and 

 these breeds exceed 100 in number. A subdivision of a family in the 

 animal kingdom may be recognized as a breed when it has been sub- 

 jected to and reproduced under the same conditions until it has ac- 

 quired a distinctive character common to all the members and natu- 

 rally reproduced with very slight variations. This definition, and the 

 term breed, applies especially to domestic animals, and the differences 

 which chiefly distinguish the breeds of the present day are the result 

 of artificial treatment by man the work of skillful breeders having 

 definite objects in view. 



Or if/in of Breeds. The different breeds of cattle to be found in 

 the United States nearly all came from Great Britain and the western 

 portions of Europe, and it is not at all unlikely that they have a com- 

 mon origin in the wild cattle which existed in the ancient forests of 

 Europe. These were described by Julius Caesar, Pliny, and other 

 Latin writers almost two thousand years ago, and by others who wrote 

 of them a century or two later as abounding in the great forests 

 around London. They were also mentioned frequently in chronicles 

 of the middle ages. 



In the early history of these cattle natural causes tended to 

 divide them into two general classes ; first, those adapted to the more 

 mountainous and less fertile sections of country, and, second, those of 

 the plains and richer regions. The former, owing to greater scarcity 

 of food and more difficulty in obtaining it, were smaller, more rug- 

 ged, and rougher in type than the better-fed animals of the latter 

 class. Later, breeding and artificial conditions, together with natural 

 causes, resulted in additional variations among cattle, and led to the 

 distinctions which became fixed in different breeds. The chief char- 

 acteristics resulting from man's interference and control were to be 

 first seen, on the one hand, in a tendency of the animals to mature at 

 an early age and easily to lay on flesh and fat; and, on the other 

 hand, in prolonging the natural period of milk flow and increasing 

 the milk product much beyond the needs of the calf. 



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