572 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



The country product's timothy, clover, and red top, or herd grass, in 

 great 'abundance. Before the development of the cattle industry, im- 

 mense quantities o hay were exported to the Tinted States. But now 

 much of the hay crop linds a market with the cattlemen, and the ship- 

 ments from this immediate locality show a corresponding decrease. The 

 lu-st roots are the white Swede turnips, sugar-beets, and carrots; the 

 turnip being the favorite. -For young cattle these arc 1 boiled, pulped, 

 and mixed with chopped clover, hay, and either oil cake or cotton-seed 

 meal : while they are sliced or fed whole to mature animals. This is, 

 c-f course, on well -managed cattle ranches; among ordinary farmers 

 they are simply fed whole in connection with hav. It is probable that 

 Canadian cheese and butter owe more of their excellent quality to this 

 diet of rid) and succulent roots, and to one other cause, than to the pe- 

 culiar hreeds of the milch cows that yield the milk and cream from 

 which they are made. The one otln r cause is the frequent rains during 

 the summer and fall, which keep the grass always green and tender 

 until the frosts kill it down. 



TIIK 3IOST si -ITAIJLK TJREEDS FOR QUEBEC. 



The Canadian minister of agriculture (Mr. Pope) is also largely eft 

 gaged in breeding line cattle at Cookshire, in this consular district, and 

 the Dominion Cattle Company, of which Hon. W. B. Jves, member of 

 Parliament for the counties of Kichmond and Wolf, is the manager, has 

 its headquarters here. Presides these there are other breeders of thorough- 

 breds, and a great many extensive raisers of good-grade stock for the 

 butcheis and < xporters. The united testimony of all these tends to the 

 conclusion that the Polled Angus or Aberdeen stock and the Here- 

 fords are the best calculated to produce good beef cattle in this climate. 



They are hardy, large, mature early, and their meat is of the best. 

 Breeders also regard them as much the best for crosses with the native 

 grades here, and under certain circumstances, in the South and West 

 also. 



TIIK JERSEYS VS. NATIVE FRENCH CATTLE. 



As before remarked the Jerseys and Jersey crosses with native cat- 

 tle are most popular here for dairy purposes. Mr. Cochrane and other 

 breeders of large experience regard them as being, in many respects, 

 superior to the, (lucriiscys. Ayr-hires or ])evons. The ease with which 

 they are kept in good condition and the richness of their milk are the 

 points urged in their favor. Some breeders have, at times, cherished 

 preferences for the Cnernseys on account of their superior weight, but 

 further experience has taught them that their inferiority to either of the 

 three great beef-producing breeds is too palpable for them to be re- 

 garded with favor for butcher's stock, while their smaller yield of milk 

 and butter will not permit them to become rivals to the Jerseys for 

 dairy purposes. 



It would not be fair to the native stoelc of cattle to fail to add here, 

 that in the qualities required for the farm dairy, the Canadian cattle, 

 (ven withoni the benefit of favorable 1 , crosses are really strong. They 

 are thoroughly acclimated, give, fair quantities of milk, and the yield of 

 butter and cheese is good. A compel cut dairyman estimates that the 

 av-rage Canadian cow, with ordinary treatment, will yield 5 quarts of 

 milk daily for at least six months in the year, after which it will slowly 

 fall off. 



