44 



THE BREEDS OF CATTLE 



cows do yield milk and that " dairy " cows do have bodies and 

 will also indicate that there may be (and we know there are) 

 masses of cattle occupying places all the way from one end of 

 the diagram to the other. 



At this point the question naturally arises : " What is a 

 dairy cow ? " " When is a cow a dairy cow, and when is she a 

 beef cow, if in fact she both functions and is used in both fields 

 of usefulness ? " While any one certain breed will occupy a 

 fairly definite position on the scale at "a " or " j " or " e " or 

 " h," individual members of all the breeds ■will vary so greatly 

 as to lap over onto the position normally occupied by another 

 breed. Furthermore, there are strains of common cows in some 

 sections of the country that would as a whole occupy a position 

 about " b " in meat and " j " or " i " in milk-producing ability. 

 This is as a class the " scrub " cow that is to be gotten rid of. 



BEEF 

 CATTLE 



Fig. 15. — Illustrating the dual function and use of cattle. 



There are others, however, that will rank about " c " or " d " in 

 milk products and " h " or " i " in beef products. 



Those animals that have been selected, fed and handled 

 chiefiy for the production of milk, are known as belonging to the 

 " dairy " breeds, and those in which the production of flesh for 

 meat has been tlie principal aim ai*ekno\vn as "beef" breeds, while 

 those animals that have been bred, fed and bandied to occupy a 

 midway position, are in America called " dual purpose " and in 

 England " general pui*pose " cattle. They could as aptly be 

 termed " heavy dairy " or " free-milking beef " cattle. In truth, 

 all cows are dual-purpose cows, in function and in fact. 



By name the breeds of domestic cattle now regularly bred 

 in America are: Aberdeen Angus, Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, 



