292 



CATTIvE. 



It is considered by many to be of great advantage to have a breed 

 of polled cattle because they can not injure other animals by the vicious 

 use of the horns. Those dairymen who object to cattle with horns can 

 by procuring a pure-bred "Red Poll" effectually breed off the horns of 

 his calves. A large percentage will be without horns owing to his 

 strong blood. 



These animals have a herd book of their own and are being 

 imported into this country in considerable numbers. They have arrived 

 at the point where all the large and well established cattle-shows and 

 agricultural fairs are offering premiums for best animals of this variety, 

 equal in amount to those paid for other breeds. 



The Holsteins. The introduction and distribution of cattle was 

 very much the same as the coming of the inhabitants. Certain portions 

 of our land were held by the Spaniards, and to this day in the native 

 cattle of that section will be found some of the characteristics of the 

 Spanish herds. The English brought their short-horns and the Dutch 

 settlers of New York brought their first cattle from Holland. These 

 cattle for many years followed the Dutch settlers along the Hudson and 

 up the Mohawk, and they became the chief stock of those sections. 



This breed of cattle has been greatly improved since 1800. Their 

 native country is largely given up to the dairy interests, and it was but 

 natural that the animals that gave the inhabitants their income should 

 receive special care in development. 



The greatest points of excellence are their milking qualities, coupled 

 with large size, and a very compact massive frame, capable of making 

 good beef. The oxen are very strong animals, and they can be turned 

 into profitable beef at the end of a couple of season's labor. 



They are almost invariably black and white in color, spotted, pied, or 

 mottled in picturesque inequalities of proportion over the body, no two 

 cattle being marked alike. The horn is short, and the hair short, fine, 

 and silky. The lacteal formations in the cow are wonderful, thus giv- 

 ing them prominence in the dair3^ 



This breed is not well known to the cattle breeders ana grazers, and 

 as they become better known they will without doubt become important 

 factors in the dairy interests of our country. 



