352 JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



case of a typical beef steer. This is all that should be at- 

 tempted and apparently all that can be accomplished in 

 the perfection of the dual-purpose cow. ' ' Special advocates 

 of this type of cattle, however, would no doubt take issue 

 with the proposition that only half as much milk should 

 be produced as is normal in dairy cows. In their 1907 

 sale catalog, Innis and May, breeders of milking Shorthorns, 

 state that "the whole herd of mature cows, six years old or 

 over, have made average yearly milk records of 9,170.5 

 pounds." One year at Tring Park, England, 54 milking 

 Shorthorns averaged 6,658 pounds of milk, and 44 Eed 

 Polled cows averaged 6,174 pounds, yields considerably in 

 .excess of 50 per cent normal production in dairy cows. 

 Dual-purpose advocates also emphasize the value of the 

 calf for veal as compared with progeny from dairy cows. 

 Without question, superior examples of dual-purpose ani- 

 mals in type and ancestry, will return yields, either in 

 beef or milk, on better than a 50 per cent basis, but just 

 how much better is not known. The natural tendency of 

 this type is for a comparatively short period of lactation, 

 this being, followed by a disposition to lay on flesh. 



The dual-purpose type, as generally recognized, repre- 

 sents an animal of modified beef form. This modification 

 is especially seen in somewhat more length and thinness of 

 neck, narrowness of withers, extreme length of body from 

 shoulders to hips, and lack of thickness in the thighs. 

 Either males or females seem to be more upstanding and 

 have more length or stretch, than in case of the true beef type. 

 The cow should carry an udder fairly representative of that 

 of the dairy type. The judge must keep these features in mind, 

 in passing on dual-purpose cattle, but he will make no mis- 

 take in giving preference to cows of distinct beef conforma- 

 tion, provided they show commendable udder development. 

 In 1914, at the show of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England at Shrewsbury, in the milking Shorthorn class, 

 consisting of 40 cows, first and second places were awarded 

 to animals that were more of beef type than otherwise, but 



