CATTLE-BREEDING IN EUROPE AND IN THE UNITED STATES. 



REPORT BY CONSUL TANNER,. OF LIEGE, BELGIUM. 



It is ray opiDion that if a fair test were made of the merits of cattle 

 but little known, including the Belgian breeds, it would be discovered 

 that the "craze" for so-called blooded breeds is a great mistake, and 

 that Americans pay enormous and absurd prices for foreign cattle. 

 These things, it is to be hoped, will be rectified by the reports in answer 

 to the cattle circular. 



I believe that if our people at home would use the money spent in 

 the purchase of foreign breeding cattle in constructing quarters for our 

 native cattle equal to the housing quarters of Europe; if they would 

 give the native cattle the same care they give to their high-priced foreign 

 cattle, that within four generations of careful breeding, always select- 

 ing the best bulls and the best cows and keeping the others thinned 

 out by the butchers, the United States would have a native breed that 

 would rival any cattle in the world. 



If those who pay extravagant prices for foreign cattle will carefully 

 note what it costs to feed and keep such cattle in good condition ; the 

 risks and losses in transportation ; will keep a careful record of their 

 milk-yield in comparison with the best of our native breeds, giving both 

 the same care and attention, and add up their accounts at the end of 

 the year, bearing in mind the interest on the money invested in the 

 foreign stock, they will find the balance on the side of the native cattle. 



In cattle the rule of the " survival of the fittest" should be adopted. 

 An inferior cow should be sent to the butcher as speedily as possible. 



If the assertion of the Dutch historian be true that William, Prince 

 of Orange, found that the cattle of England were inferior to those of 

 Holland, it shows that the improvement in British cattle is of recent 

 date. 



I might offer a hundred illustrations from my own observations and 

 experience, which would fortify the assertion that our native cattle can 

 be brought to a degree of perfection existing in the cattle of European 

 countries if they will be surrounded by similar conditions. 



My brother took much interest in matters of this kind, and made 

 many experiments. The results of twelve years of careful selection of 

 the best native cows and bulls proved that there was only a slight dif- 

 ference between these and the fancy imported cattle, and when the 

 difference in price was taken into account the balance was in favor of 

 the home breeds. 



The first Jockey Club that was ever inaugurated was gotten up by 

 the father of Senator Wade Hampton, of South Carolina. What has 

 this Jockey Club not done for the American race and trotting horse? 

 It has not only elevated the standard of this breed of horses by offer- 

 ing sufficient inducement to that end in the United States, but it has 

 done the same in European countries which have followed the example 

 of South Carolina. It has greatly increased the speed in running in 



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