58 A STUDY OF FARM ANllVALS 



promotion of a breed was probably with the people on the 

 Island of Jersej^, who in 1763, by legislative action, pro- 

 hibited the bringing of other cattle to the island, unless for 

 immediate slaughter. In 1833 the people on the island intro- 

 duced the use of the scale of points whereby they might have 

 a common standard for improving their cattle. In England 

 through co-operative effort, as early as 1791, a book was 

 published in which was given the names and breeding of 

 Thoroughbred horses, and in 1822 a herd-book for Shorthorn 

 cattle was published. These first two books of the kind 

 were the outgrowth of community breeding. Eventually 

 co-operative community organization became a necessity in 

 promoting the established breeds; otherwise there would 

 have been no means of standardizing the breed and through 

 well-planned supervision of protecting its purity. 



Community breeding of farm animals in the United States 

 in an unorganized form perhaps first took place in Vermont, 

 Pennsylvania, and Ohio, in the breeding of Merino sheep. 

 Sheep husbandry in those states between 1810 and 1870 

 became a great industry, and the Merino was the universal 

 sheep. This result was due to the fact that this breed or 

 type of sheep supplied the great demand for fine wool, while 

 the wool from other sheep was at a disadvantage in the 

 market. So famous did Vermont become as a Merino cen- 

 ter, that in far away Australia, to which many of these sheep 

 were exported, the shepherds supposed all Merinos from 

 America were grown in that state, and they were known as 

 "Vermont Merinos." The first organized community breed- 

 ing association in America was the Western Reserve Hol- 

 stein-Friesian Association, oi'ganized at Burton, Ohio, in 

 1905. Later the name was changed to the Geauga County 

 Holstein-Friesian Association. The purpose of this organ- 

 ization was to extend the interest in cattle of this breed and 

 promote its welfare by all proper means. In 1906 the 

 Waukesha County (Wisconsin) Guernsey Breeders' Associa- 



