10 



CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



LIVE CATTLE IN THE SEVERAL COUNTRIES. 



The following statistics, mainly official, showing the number of cattle 

 in the principal countries wherein cattle-rearing for meat and dairy 

 purposes, or for either, is prosecuted, will enable our stockmen to ap- 

 preciate the present and prospective conditions which affect this great 

 industry both at home and abroad : 



Cattle in the principal countries of Europe. 



The statistical rules usually applicable for the deduction of results 

 from almost any general industry are of very little practical use when 

 applied to the cattle industry of Europe. The United Kingdom and 

 Eussia may be cited in illustration. The former is the largest consumer 

 of foreign cattle among the nations of the world, while the latter is a 

 country upon which the former expects in the very near future to draw 

 for a large portion of its foreign meat supply ; yet the United Kingdom 

 has within a fraction of as many cattle as Kussia to each 1,000 inhab- 

 itants, and if we take the quality of the stock of both countries into 

 consideration the native breeds, which constitute the general stock of 

 Eussia, yielding, according to Consul-General Stanton, " only from 252 

 to 288 pounds of coarse, unsavory meat " the odds are largely in favor 

 of the United Kingdom. 



Spain, which exports largely to the United Kingdom, has only 170.5 

 cattle to each 1,000 of its inhabitants; Portugal, with much less than 

 one-half the cattle per capita of the United Kingdom, is another heavy 

 exporter; while France, with a fair average cattle supply 303.2 to each 

 1,000 inhabitants imports, over and above its exports, from 70,000 to 

 75,000 head of cattle per annum for consumption. Consul Williams, of 

 Eouen, says of the beef consumed in France one- tenth is imported. The 

 same consul says that France imports beef cattle in large numbers from 

 Italy; yet Italy has the lowest cattle census of the countries of Europe 

 that is, according to population Portugal excepted, viz, 168.1 to each 

 1,000 of its inhabitants. 



Among the many conditions which prevail and which influence the 

 interests of the several countries, in so far as those interests come into 



