DAIRY FARMING 



CHAPTER I . 



INTRODUCTORY. THE VARIOUS RACES OF PURE- 

 BRED CATTLE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



THE milking qualities of our domestic cows are, to 

 some extent, artificial, the result of care and breeding. 

 In the natural or wild state, the cow yields only 

 enough to nourish her offspring for a few weeks, and 

 then goes dry for several months, or during the greater 

 part of the year. There is, therefore, a constant tend- 

 ency to revert to that condition, which is prevented 

 only by judicious treatment, designed to develop and 

 increase the milking qualities so valuable to the human 

 race. If this judicious treatment is continued through 

 several generations of the same family or race of ani- 

 mals, the qualities which it is calculated to develop 

 become more or less fixed, and capable of transmission. 

 Instead of being exceptional, or peculiar to an indi- 

 vidual, they become the permanent characteristics of 

 a breed. Hence the origin of a great variety of 

 breeds or races, the characteristics of each being due 

 to local circumstances, such as climate, soil, and the 

 special objects of the breeder, which may be the pro- 

 duction of milk, butter and cheese, or the raising of 

 beef or working cattle. 



A knowledge of the history of different breeds, and 



