580 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



get for 12 or 25 cents. A small piece is almost always thrown in as a 

 " pilon" or gift. The meat not sold is sliced, salted, and hung out to 

 dry in the sun. 



'Beef at various ages. From six months to three years the beef is coin 

 paratively good and tender. From three to seven years it is very tough . 

 After the seventh year it again begins to grow tender, and is at its best 

 in the fourteenth year. 



Age. Cattle mature at five or six years but continue to fill out a y ejir 

 or two longer. With fair care cattle live fifteen to eighteen years. Tl i oy 

 rarely live more than twenty years. 



VALUE OF MEXICAN CATTLE FOR THE UNITED STATES. 



Breeding cows. The chief value of these cattle, so far as regards the 

 United States, is in th,e cows. These when exported to the plains of 

 Texas and the West make the basis of the finest herds in the world. 

 As I stated in a recent report (see Consular Eeports No. 31, July, 18>\)), 

 these cows breed very rapidly and surely. They and their descend- 

 ants retain the large size and red color of meat. They grow rapidly, arc 

 hardy, wild enough to be good "rustlers," and the second cross with 

 good bulls makes the best grass-fed beef that goes into our Eastern cities. 

 The first thought of the Western ranchman is to get Texas cows, which 

 are the same as the Mexican cows, except as improved by better hand- 

 ling, for the foundation of his herd. 



If prices are too high in Texas he comes through to Mexico. 



Experience has shown that with one or two crosses these cows pro- 

 duce much finer and more profitable beef cattle than do the average 

 cows in the United States. They are not so domesticated or effeminated, 

 and hence are better adapted to the rough ways of ranch life. It Ls 

 not at all likely that they would be of service in improving our breed 

 of milch cows. 



Beef cattle. When prices make it profitable large quantities of young 

 cattle are exported to the United States to be driven to the ranges to 

 grow and fatten for our markets. These cattle are simply frames, and, 

 fattened on the juicy grasses of our West, make good beef at four and 

 five years of age. 



Duties. All cows, heifers, and bulls entered for breeding purposes 

 are free of duty in the United States. Beef and other cattle pay 20 per 

 cent, on the original cost price. 



Values. The prices of all kinds of live animals as cattle, horses, 

 mules, sheep, goats, have greatly increased within a few years, nerds 

 of cattle, which five years ago were slow sale at $4 ahead as they ran, 

 now bring $10 to $15. Eanchmen hold cattle so high that buyers have 

 fallen off greatly and the movement is slight at present. 



Export duty. The demand in the United States sent a good many 

 buyers to this State last year. The export of cattle so alarmed the 

 State authorities that they passed a law levying an export tax, amount- 

 ing to $2.50 per head on cows and $1.25 on other cattle. 



This tax applied if cattle were moved from one Mexican State to 

 another. Large transactions were broken off and sales for a time almost 

 entirely suspended. By a late law this tax has been reduced to $1 per 

 head on cows and 47 J cents on other cattle. 



Markets. The principal market and that which takes perhaps t\vo- 

 thiids of the surplus is the interior of Mexico. After supplying tbo 

 small local demands about one-third goes to the United States through 

 Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Some have been shipped by vessels 



