90 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



ways. In all cases the first cross shows the Swiss blood very strongly. 

 Generally the first cross, where the cow's nose is red, brings a black 

 nose in the calf. The calf grows rapidly and fats easily. The milking 

 qualities are improved in the heifers. The young stock can do well with- 

 out extra care, and at the same time they respond to extra care when it is 

 given them. Where there is a familiarity with Brown Swiss grades the 

 cows and heifers and young cows readily bring a price from 50 to 100 per 

 cent higher than the grades of other sorts. 



Without entering Into the question as to -whether the Swiss breed is su- 

 perior in aP things and in all respects to other breeds, I am willing to go 

 so far as to express the belief that its characteristics and general excellence 

 arp such that for dairy purposes Swiss blood would improve any dairy herd 

 even of pure bred stock, and it will very rapidly and promptly improve any 

 herd that is not pure bred. 



I recognize that under existing conditions no owner of a herd of pure 

 bred cattle of any breed could cross his stock with any other breed and make 

 the result profitable. For the cross bred animals would not sell on their 

 pedigrees for as much as the pure breds that he started with. There are ob- 

 vious reasons why this is so. If, however, the breeding of cattle were subsi- 

 dized by the government as the breeding cf .horses is in France, or if there 

 were some way for breeding experiments to be carried on systematically and 

 with intelligent plan for results and wait for the public recognition, I believe 

 the most hopeful results could be reached by judicious crossing of recog- 

 nized breeds and among such crosses the most valuable for dairy results 

 would be crosses of Brown Swiss with the other dairy breeds. The results 

 would be an average gain in dairy quality at least and at the worst no loss 

 in dairy quality, and at the same time a decided gain in constitution in hard- 

 ii.ess, in longevity, in the by-product, veal, and in the value of cows when 

 they cease from age or other causes, to be profitable milkers. My idea is 

 that the Swiss breed would for such a pioject occupy a place analogous to 

 that of the Arab horse in horse breeding. The breeds of horses that are use- 

 ful are many of them made still more useful by an infusion of Arab blood, or 

 on a larger scale other useful breeds are improved by Arabian. The dif- 



