138 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



mum weight. Bulls ordinarily weigh a ton and more, sometimes 

 running up to 3,000 pounds; mature cows range from 1,200 to 

 1,600 pounds, sometimes falling a little below and sometimes ex- 

 ceeding these limits. The colors of the breed have always been 

 red and white, with various blendings of these two. Many of the 

 best among the early Shorthorns were pure white, but that color has 

 lost caste, and red is especially fancied in this country. In England, 

 however, the roan color is much more common than any other, and 

 this peculiar blending of the red and white, popularly called roan, 

 is rarely, if ever, seen in any animal of the bovine race which does 

 not possess some portion of the Shorthorn blood. (Sanders.) 



The lines of the body are straight, the rectangular form, with 

 well-filled points, broad, level back, full loin, heavy, thick buttocks, 

 wide apart, brisket wide and full, legs rather short, close, fine-boned 

 and well proportioned to size of body. In the best milking strains 

 the cows are rather more rangy and angular in outline, with large, 

 hairy udder and good-sized straight teats, well placed. The skin 

 over the whole body is flesh colored, soft, oily to the touch, and cov- 

 ered with fine short hair. The animals are quiet and kind in dispo- 

 sition. Nearly all show evidences of long-continued high breeding, 

 and this has been carried to such an extent in many cases as to cause 

 more or less delicacy of constitution and sometimes shyness in 

 breeding. 



Milk and Butter. It has been already noted that among the 

 early Durham and Teeswater cattle there was much dairy excellence, 

 and that Shorthorns when first brought to America earned the name 

 of the milk breed. Among old records are those of cows giving 

 6, 8, and even 9 gallons of milk a day on grass alone. Although now 

 latent in most lines, there seems to be a dairy quality inherent in the 

 breed which some careful managers are able successfully to develop 

 and propagate. Records of several dairy herds in the United States 

 within a quarter century show a milking season of about two hundred 

 and seventy-five days and an average produce of 6,500 pounds of 

 milk. One herd of 10 cows, from 3 to 12 years old, averaged 7,750 

 pounds in a year. Single cows have averaged much more, several 

 instances being known of 10,000 to 12,000 pounds in a season. The 1 

 Shorthorn milk is of good quality, rather above the average ; the fat 

 globules are of medium and fairly uniform size, so that cream sepa- 

 rates easily ; it is rather pale in color. * 



The first Shorthorn herdbook was published in England in the 

 year 1822, but for nearly a century before pedigrees of some fine 

 bulls had been kept with reasonable accuracy. The American Short- 

 horn Breeders' Association was organized in 1842 and publication of 

 the herdbpok of this country began in 1845, connecting with the 

 Coates series in England. (F. B. 106.) 



THE DAIRY HERD; ITS FORMATION AND IMPROVEMENT. 



Introduction. The pursuit of dairy farming depends for its 

 success upon certain fundamental conditions. First, the owner of 

 the business himself, or otherwise the agent or manager who has the 



