.SWITZERLAND. 291 



BERNESE CATTLE SUITABLE FOR EXPORT TO THE UNITED STATES. 



For export to the United States, the six-months-old calves are recom 

 mended by experts here as being cheaper at first cost, easier and less 

 costly to transport, and more likely to acclimatize readily than older 

 animals. 



BLACK-SPOTTED FREIBURG CATTLE. 



There are several off-shoot breeds derived from the pure Bernese, 

 known as the Freiburg, the Frutiger, the Illiez, and Ormond breads, but 

 they are all more or less inferior to the pure original race. As a prin- 

 ciple, cross-breeding has failed in Switzerland, and the best results 

 have always been obtained by in-breeding from the pure original stock. 



Of these minor spotted breeds the only one which deserves notice 

 here is the Freiburg, which originated in the canton of that name, and 

 is still bred there in great purity, although even there it is gradually 

 giving way in the best herds to the light-colored Saanen and Sim men- 

 thai variety. 



The distinctive mark of the Freiburg cattle is found in the fact that 

 their spots are black. Many examples are seen in which the entire ani- 

 mal is black, except perhaps the head and a stripe under the belly. It 

 is fully as heavy as its Bernese rival, but has larger, heavier bones, 

 coarser flesh, and is in other respects inferior to it in the technical 

 points which characterize a perfect stock. 



As working animals and as milkers the Freiburgers rank next to the 

 Bernese, but for reasons stated they are less valuable for either the 

 home market or export. 



SIZE OF BERNESE AND FREIBURG CATTLE AT MATURITY. 



Thoroughbred animals of both Bernese and Freiburg breeds attain 

 at maturity the following dimensions : Length, 83 to 87 inches ; height 

 of shoulder, 55 to GO inches ; girth behind shoulders, 87 to SO inches $ 

 weight, 1,600 to 2,500 pounds. 



THE BERNESE DURHAM CROSS-BREED. 



For meat-producing purposes, a cross between the Swiss-spotted cat- 

 tle and the English-Durham breed has been found excellent, but it is 

 inferior for dairy and working purposes to the pure bred Siminenthaler 

 and is comparatively little known. 



BROWN SCHWY1ZER CATTLE. 



As already indicated, the one other breed of Swiss cattle which chal- 

 lenges the supremacy of the Fleck race is the Brown Schwy tzer, which 

 has been bred for many centuries in the cantons of Schwytz, Uri, and 

 Zug, and lias spread thence throughout the whole mountain region of 

 Switzerland. Its renown as a milker, its gentle disposition, and its 

 ready adaptation to varying conditions of food and climate, have made 

 the Schwytzer the better known, as it is no doubt the more largely ex- 

 ported of the two pure breeds of Swiss cattle. 



As milkers. The milk-producing records of choice herds of these 

 cows ha\% been carefully kept for centuries by the monks at Einsiedeln, 

 and later at the milk-condensing establishment in Cham, both of which 



