CHAPTER V 



ORIGIN OF BREEDS 



It is a general truth that an abundance of feed promotes 

 quick growth of the young and also encourages the production 

 of a larger size. A condition wherein there is an abundance 

 of feed through a long period of years makes for an increase in 

 the size of the stock. This is undoubtedly the prime reason 

 why the cattle of Holland are larger than other dairy breeds. 

 The reverse is also true, scanty feed and severe weather retard 

 growth and tend permanently to stunt the animals. Thus w r e 

 find the cattle of our extreme northern regions naturally smaller 

 and more agile than those farther south on more abundant 

 pastures. 



A classification of the original primary stock, so far as can 

 be determined by fossil remains and the present representatives, 

 would seem to indicate that at some very early period, for some 

 unknown reason, the great family known as the Bos divided into 

 two great divisions, one represented by the present hump-backed 

 cattle of India and Egypt, known as the Bos Indicus; and the 

 other represented by the present straight-backed cattle of north- 

 ern Europe and known as the Bos Taurus. That they are of 

 the same origin would seem to be indicated by the fact that they 

 will readily cross breed and their crosses also breed. This 

 division must have taken place at a very early period, however, 

 because it is evident that a division of the straight-backed group 

 later took place, and formed the large, 'fierce, long-headed beasts 

 to which the name Bos Primigenius (Keller) has been given, 

 and the smaller, almost deer-like race, possessed of finer qualities, 

 and known by the comparatively short, broad skull. This 

 division is known as the Bos Sondaicus (Keller). The present 

 breeds and strains of the domesticated cattle of the world are 

 almost wholly the refined representatives of the one, the enlarged 

 representatives of the other, or a mixture of the two. The 



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