Animal Husbandry Investigations in 1916. 127 



From the preceeding- table it appears that this cooperative 

 \vork has made available data on cattle breeding from 192 dif- 

 ferent herds, including 3085 cows and heifers and 217 bulls. 

 These herds are distributed by breeds as follows : 



Breed Herds 



Jersey i 70 



Holstein-Friesian 47 



Guernsey 19 



Ayrshire 11 



Shorthorn i 2 



Hereford 3 



Brown-Swiss 2 



Dutch Belted 1 



Various" and mixed 33 



Not recorded 4 



Total 192 



'This means more than one breed in herd. 



So far as may be judged from these figures it would appear 

 that the Jersey is still the leading breed of cattle in Maine. It 

 is equally clear, however, that the other breeds have made, and 

 are making, large inroads on the popularity of this breed. From 

 all the evidence at hand one would judge that during the last 

 50 years the proportionate number of Jersey cattle in the State 

 has decreased, while other breeds, particularly in recent years 

 the Holstein-Friesian, have increased. 



It is interesting to note the large proportion of Maine breed- 

 ers of cattle who use pure-bred sires. Out of 146 herds in 

 which a bull is kept and for which information on this point is 

 given, 131, or 89.7 per cent report the bulls used as pure bred. 

 This is very gratifying and augurs well for the future of the 

 live-stock industry in this vState. 



One of the most interesting features of the table is the last 

 column, in which are given, in condensed form, the answers to 

 the question "Do you make it a rule in breeding to have cows 

 served early in heat or late?" Summarizing these data we find 

 the following" facts : 



