GERMANY. 473 



CATTLE AND CATTLE PRODUCTS IN BADEN. 



REPORT BY CONSUL SMITH, OF MANNHEIM. 



I have the honor to report in reply to circular letter issued from the 

 Department of State July 18, 1883, that the breeding of domestic ani- 

 mals in the Grand Duchy of Baden is conducted, in a very limited and 

 primitive manner, by peasant farmers who occupy small farms. No large 

 grazing herds are seen. 



Baderr possesses, peculiar to itself, four breeds of cattle, viz, Hinter- 

 walder, Messkircher, Odenwalder, and Neckar. 



An important result can only be realized in Baden when cattle can be 

 fed on soil which has a substratum of lime. A substratum of granite 

 and sand is not favorable to the growth of foreign cattle. Even where 

 lime exists, refreshing of the blood is required by continued importation 

 of fresh animals, especially male breeders. Breeds original to marshy 

 countries have beeu transferred to the plains of the Bhiiie, where the 

 soil is sandy, without success in retaining their original characteristics. 

 The best cattle for transportation in Baden is abreed called Messkircher, 

 produced by a cross with a Swiss breed called Simmenthaler. Breeders 

 of cattle have ascertained to a certainty that the breed called Simmen- 

 thaler in South Germany is the best for crossing with other breeds, es- 

 pecially these brought up on a lime soil. 



The colors are as follows : 



Hinterwalder. Dappled white and yellow. 



Messkircher. Dappled white and yellow and dappled white and 

 red. 



Odenwalder. Grayish brown. 



Necltar. Dappled white and yellow. 



The total number of cattle iu*Baden is 650,000. 



The percentage of the different breeds is Hinterwalder and Mess- 

 kircher about GO per cent., Odenwalder and Neckar about 40 per cent. 



The annual production of milk is about 480,000,000 liters. 



The increase or decrease of cattle stock depends upon the crop and 

 prices of hay, turnips, &c., such increase or decrease vary ing from 5,000 

 to 40,000 heads. 



In 187G, when the crop of grass was very small, the total number of 

 cattle in Baden was only 568,000 ; yet in 1879, when the crop of grass 

 was plentiful, the total was 665,000. 



The stock seems to be sufficient for demand. From the average stock 

 of 650,000 head about L'00,000 head are killed each year, enough for the 

 general requirements of the people. There is not much meat eaten by 

 the common people. Meat once a week is the usual customary diet. 



There is no excess in the demand for foreign cattle. If cattle are im- 

 ported they come from the adjoining countries of Wurtemberg and Ba- 

 varia. The insufficiency for a home demand is not noticeable. 



On occasions when the crop of grass .has been very poor in Upper 

 Silesia and upon the marshy grounds of Holland, cattle have been sent 

 from there to Baden and sold at low prices. 



Cattle supplies are not drawn to Baden from the United States. The 

 cattle of Baden are mostly, with a few exceptions in the Schwarzwald, 

 stall-fed from their birth, making a different meat from that of the 

 grazing animals of America. The meat of German stall-fed animals is 

 hard and marbled with fat and lean. 



