66 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



BREEDING AND MANAGING DAIRY CATTLE. 



BY PROP. THOMAS SHAW, ST. ANTHONY PARK, MINN. 



More than twenty years ago the cry went up that dairying 

 would be overdone almost to the extent of rendering the 

 products of the dairy valueless. The attention of the various 

 agricultural colleges began to center on dairying as on no 

 other department relating to live stock. The farmers insti- 

 tutes, like the colleges in the prime of a robust youth, gave 

 more attention to the gospel of dairying than to any other 

 gospel. Likewise, more space was given to the dairy in the 

 agricultural press than to any other topic. Assuredly, on the 

 surface at least there were grounds for the fear that dairying 

 would be overdone. But what are the facts ? Simply these : 

 there never was a time in the history of the United States 

 when dairy products were relatively so scarce and dear as 

 they are to-day. There never was a time when dairy cows 

 would sell at so high a figure, and there never was a time 

 when the cry for dairy workers was so loud as it is to-day. 

 The reasons why it is so are not difficult to find. This is 

 true at least of some of them. They include the following: 

 (1) the average dairy cow has not been so improved by breed- 

 ing and selection as to make her too valuable for early 

 slaughter; (2) many high-class dairy cows are injured for 

 dairy production and for breeding by being overfed; (3) the 

 amount and constancy of the labor involved in dairying- 

 makes it distasteful to many as a pursuit. Nor is the fact 

 to be overlooked that with the great improvement made in 

 the product during recent years there has come, as was to be 

 expected, an increase in the relative consumption of these 

 products. 



