482 



THE CLOVEN-HOOFED ANIMALS. 



broad, and the tail moderately long. The legs are 

 especially stoutly and strongly developed, long, but 

 not clumsy. The horns are short, weak, and usually 

 turn outward and forward; the coloring is pied, the 

 white or grayish white ground showing black or 

 sometimes brown or red spots, of varying size and 

 shape. In Holland this Ox has been bred for cen- 

 turies. It is distinguished for its abundant yield of 

 milk, and is easily fattened. 

 The Durham or The Durham or Short-horned breed 

 English Short- of England {Bos taurus dunelmensis) 

 horn. jj-,ay be mentioned as a not exactly 



handsome product of continued systematical breed- 

 ing. It is, in fact, an Ox with no symmetry of pro- 

 portions — a shapeless animal — with a small head, 



Wild Cattle in 



the United 



States. 



FREIBURG OR SWISS OX. A well developed, sturdy animal is the Freiburg Ox, which is typical of the 



Alpine Cattle. It is a short-horned variety, has a thick neck with a prominent dewlap, a small head and the white 

 ground color of its sides shows several dark spots. (,Bos taurus friburgensis.) 



very weak horns, a straight back and short legs, a 

 thick neck and unwieldy body, bred especially to 

 furnish the greatest possible amount of beef when 

 fattened and butchered. The coloring of the short, 

 smooth hair is subject to much variation. Originally 

 the Durham was bred almost exclusively in the east- 

 ern coast counties of England; now it is to be seen 

 in all the counties of England and Ireland and oc- 

 casionally in Germany, Holland and France [and 

 is also nurnerous in the United States]. In the yield 

 of milk it is inferior to many of the other breeds, 

 but in the production of beef it surpasses them all. 

 Oxen Easily Re- With as much ease as that with which 

 uert to a Wild a wild Ox is tamed and reduced to a 

 State. state of domesticity, the domestic 



Ox reverts to the habits of the original species, when 

 it escapes from the supervision and care of Man. 

 Oxen which have reverted to complete or partial 

 savagery are found mainly in those countries over 

 which Spaniards once ruled or which are still sub- 

 ject to their dominion. The bull which is so highly 

 esteemed in Spain because it is indispensable to the 

 conduct of bull-fights, descends from Cattle which 

 once were tame. It leads the life of wild Oxen, 

 never entering a stable the whole year round, and is 



really the recipient of no care at all. Only occa- 

 sionally does some person commissioned to inspect 

 the herd visit its haunts. It is not of particularly 

 large stature, though a beautifully proportioned and 

 uncommonly strong creature, characterized by toler- 

 ably long and very pointed horns, curving outward; 

 the color is a dark red or bay, or a blackish-brown, 

 as a rule, but there are exceptions. 

 America the Par- In the New World circumstances 

 adise of Reverted have always favored the reversion of 

 Cattle. Cattle to the wild state. Colum- 



bus first imported the useful creature on his second 

 trip to San Domingo. There it multiplied with such 

 rapidity that a few years later calves of both sexes 

 could be distributed all over the island, and twenty- 

 seven years after the 

 discovery of Domingo 

 herds of four thousand 

 head were of common 

 occurrence. In 1587 

 thirty-five thousand 

 skins were exported 

 from this island alone. 

 About 1540 Oxen were 

 transported from Spain 

 to the southern portions 

 of America. They found 

 the climate of the New 

 World so favorable to 

 their well-being that 

 they shortly emancipat- 

 ed themselves from hu- 

 man protection. A cen- 

 tury later they inhabited 

 the pampas in such 

 enormous numbers that 

 people in those regions 

 pursued the same course 

 in regard to them that 

 the hunters of North 

 America did later with 

 regard to the Bisons: 

 that is, slaughtered the 

 animals solely for the 

 sake of their skins. The 

 flesh and fat were left 

 for the consumption of the tame and wild Dogs and 

 of the Vultures. Such indiscriminate slaughter soon 

 thinned the numbers of even these enormous herds, 

 and only recent improvements in the manner of util- 

 izing all parts of the carcasses of the beasts led to a 

 change in the methods of slaughter and saved these 

 wild Cattle from utter extinction. 



In Texas, California and some of the west- 

 ern states and territories there are immense 

 herds of what are known as "range" Cattle. 

 These are the direct descendants of the 

 Spanish Cattle brought to America in the early days of Span- 

 ish dominion on this continent. A few decades ago the care 

 of Cattle in Texas was very lax, all of the animals being left to 

 follow their own devices on a common range. Now the stock 

 owners largely use fenced-in pastures, so as to restrict the 

 travels of their Cattle within proper bounds. Some of these 

 pastures enclose many thousands of acres within one fence. 



Cattle belonging to smaller owners are still turned out on 

 the prairie and allowed to wander about promiscuously. Each 

 owner has a brand.which he can register with the county clerk, 

 such registry making the brand the indisputable property of 

 the one in whose name it is entered. With this brand he 

 marks all the Cattle he owns. At least once a year there is a 

 general " round-up " of the Cattle, the owners in a county 

 uniting to drive all the Cattle to a corral, or enclosure. From 

 there the calves following their mothers are driven into the 

 branding pen, and the brand of their owner is placed on them 

 and they remain his until rebranded. 



