110 BROWN SWISS 



are not bred to freshen until about three years of age. Though 

 late maturing they are, like the Ayrshire, noted for their ability 

 to continue at work until old age. 



For a long period of time this breed has been considered in 

 the home country a dairy breed but since good amount of flesh 

 was desired on work animals those naturally were selected which 

 perpetuated the meaty thighs and well covered back, rather than 

 the more angular dairy type of animal. In America, however, 

 the Brown Swiss has been considered in the dual purpose class 

 and were so entered at the World's Fair in Chicago, in 1893, at 

 Buffalo in 1901 and at St. Louis in 1904, but in 190S the Brown 

 Swiss Cattle Breeders' Association went on record asking fair 

 associations to class this breed as strictly dairy cattle, and since 

 then the breeding has been tending more strongly towards the 

 production of a less meaty animal with better developed mam- 

 mary organs and nervous temperament, in short, the refining of 

 the breed toward the dairy type (Fig. 40). 



Importation to America — So far as recorded the first ani- 

 mals of this breed to be brought to America were imported in 

 1869, by Henry M. Clarke of Belmont, Mass. From Mr. 

 Clarke's importation some two hundred or more animals are now 

 descended. In 1882 other animals were imported by Mr. 

 Scott of Massachusetts, and Mr. Harris of Connecticut. Since 

 then various importations have been made until now it is esti- 

 mated that ten thousand have been recorded, and that fully five 

 thousand animals are now kept in Xew England, the middle 

 west, and western states. 



The popularity of the Brown Swiss is due quite as much to 

 their rich color and quiet dispositions as to their meat or milk- 

 making adaptations. They are so heavy, so strong, and so 

 tractable and easy to handle that phenomenal loads are drawn by 

 them as oxen. Animals of this breed are now, and have been for 

 years, greatly sought in all the southern European countries, in 

 Siberia, Russia, South America and Mexico as draft animals. 

 In Mexico there is no draft animal more popular, for there the 

 Brown Swiss cow is made to do triple service, to draw the load, 

 to yield milk, and her own flesh as beef in the end (Fig. 8). Some 



