410 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



Soil: Sand; clay. 



Average yield of milk : '2,900 to 3,500 quarts per year ; 6 quarts per day ; 14 to 16 

 quarts of milk to 1 pound of butter. 



Cultivated grasses : Red clover ; ray grass. 



Handling products : Butter exported. Cheese made only for domestic use. 



Feeding: Calves receive mother's milk two weeks; then skimmed milk and fine 

 hay. At five months they are taken to pasture. Winter feed consists of two-thirds 

 straw, one-third hay, 1 to 3 pounds of oats. 



CATTLE IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 



In the lower portions of Schleswig-Holstein crossings with English 

 breeds have led to great improvements in cattle, and they are now ex- 

 ported to England in great numbers. 



The butter produced here, also largely exported to England, is of an 

 excellent quality, and the refuse from the great dairies is used with ad- 

 vantage for fattening hogs. The breed of cattle raised here form the 

 connecting link between the lowland and highland cattle, and there are 

 eight distinct varieties deriving their names from the several counties 

 of the province. The cattle of Eiderstedt have been crossed with En- 

 glish Shorthorns. The calves receive their mother's milk only daring 

 the first few weeks. After two or three weeks, warmed skimmed milk 

 is given them, and they are in a few months taken to pasture. The fat- 

 tening commences in the third or fourth year, according to their devel- 

 opment. The steers then reach a dead weight of from 800 to 1,000 

 pounds. Many of them are sent to the London markets, where they 

 bring very good prices, whilst others go to Hamburg, from whence the 

 meat, after being smoked, is shipped in great quantities. 



The quality and quantity of dairy produce of the Eiderstedt cows are 

 above the average, while those of the county Ditmarsh are rather 

 inferior in their yield of milk. In Wilstermarsh and at Breitenburg, 

 both the cattle for the dairy as well as for slaughter are very superior. 

 Cows between three and four years of age attain a weight of about 900 

 pounds. 



The most remarkable of all the cattle of Schleswig-Holstein are the 

 cattle of Angeln and Tondern. At the age of five or six years the cows 

 of Angeln and Tondern weigh between 800 and 1,000 pounds, and in the 

 most favorable milking time produce daily 9 to 12 quarts of milk, which, 

 by its fatty richness is especially adapted for the production of butter. 



Fed plentifully these cows average an annual yield of 3,500 quarts of 

 milk. Full pasture is given from May (after the cows have calved) 

 until the end of October, the cows remaining out day and night. Every 

 field has plenty of water, either in ponds made for the purpose or in 

 large troughs filled from wells. 



In the northern parts of Schleswig a breed of cattle is to be found 

 which, although smaller than that of Angeln and Tondern, is remarkable 

 for its magnificent build in the bone as well as for its adaptability for 

 fattening. Being somewhat hardened by the manner of its rearing and 

 its confinement to rather short pasturage, this breed is capable of won- 

 derful improvement. Many are sent to neighboring countries, where 

 they become longer in limb and still coarser in the bone, heavier in the 

 head and horns and less neat in form, but are excellent for slaughter or 

 the dairy. 



Stock-breeders in the northwestern portion of our own country have 

 for the last few years imported these cattle for the purpose of improving 

 their own herds. In color these breeds are gray, or of a bluish-black 

 wiih white spots. 



