CHAPTER IX 



BREEDING FOR THE MARKET 



The following figures reported by the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture show the rank of the leading cattle countries and the total number 

 of cattle (beef and dairy cattle) in each: 



Number of cattle in leading countries 



Country Year Total cattle 



1. India 1920 132,537,000 



2. United States. . . . 1923 66,352,000 



3. Russia 1921 38,132,000 



4. Brazil 1918 37,500,000 > 



5. Argentina 1920 27,721,000 



6. Germany 1921 16,840,000 



7. Siberia 1915 14,772,000 



8. Australia 1920 13,373,000 



9. France 1920 12,782,000 



10. Great Britain. . . .1921 11,893,000 



11. Canada 1921 10,206,000 



12. Poland 1921 7,861,000 



13. Uruguay 1916 7,803,000 



World total 492,072,000 = 



» Unofficial. 



«U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1921, p. 680. Includes 435,000 designated as "cattle and buffaloes.' 



The United States has about one-seventh of the world's cattle. 

 The 1920 census reported 35 million beef cattle and 32 million dairy 

 cattle in the United States. On January 1, 1923, the number of milk 

 cows on farms in the United States, as estimated by the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, was 24,429,000 and the remaining 41,923,000 

 were reported as "other cattle." The average value of milk cows was 

 estimated to be $50.83 and of "other cattle," $25.67. Cattle other 

 than milk cows are principally beef cattle. 



Cattle and population. — The population of the United States has 

 shown a steady and regular increase since 1850, and the increase in 

 number of cattle kept pace with it until about 1895. Since that time 

 the number of both beef and dairy cattle has remained fairly constant, 

 while population has continued to increase steadily. Therefore the 

 number of cattle to each inhabitant has declined somewhat since 1895. 

 However, the use of better and better animals for breeding purposes 

 has improved the usefulness of all of our farm animals; hence decline 

 in number of cattle per capita has been partially met by improvement 

 in quality. 



The accompanying table ^ shows the annual slaughter and con- 



iJohn Roberts: Meat Production, Consumption, and Foreign Trade in United 

 States, 1907-1922, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus., Mimeographed Report. 



145 



