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ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



No breed is more elastic in its adaptation to the objects of its breeder 

 and the circumstances of its life. The type then which first came into prom- 

 inence was a milk-and-beef animal in which the balance between dairy 

 and beef was more or less even. 



Such a type was highly artificial and therefore the tendency was to re- 

 vert to one or the other of the simple types. To produce a dairy cow at the 

 cost of weight and rapid growth of flesh or to produce a beef animal at the 

 cost of the loss of milk. Such cattle wtve bred by the pioneers of Short Horn 

 history — Bates, Collings, Mason and others. 



Such cattle were first imported to this country; cows with great udders, 

 broad backs, prominent hips, tapering necks and rather inclined to be long 

 faced. 



This type of cattle were imported to the middle and eastern states from 

 1796 to 1830, and for many years were kept quite true to the original type. 

 Such Short Horns can still be found, as is attested by the many good 

 cows shown in the various dairy contests, and when such cows are found 

 there are none better and as our average farmer is not a specialist, and as 

 the great body of farmers must raise cattle as well as produce milk, the 

 Short- Horns will always occupy the premier place on our broad prairie 

 lands. 



The Short Horn has had many rivals. The Herefords and Polled An- 

 gus as beef makers, and the Holsteins and Jerseys as milkers — and many 

 were all one purpose breeds and have had other breeds in both classes, 

 but they have to await their time for accumulated wealth in the hands of 

 the specialist to handle them. 



Now that this is the present position of the Short Horn numbered by 

 thousands scattered from Maine to Oregon and from British America to 

 Florida, between six and seven thousand of them thrown upon the public 

 markets at auction annually at prices still at the top, with new and promis- 

 ing rivals in the hands of moneyed individuals and corporations what will 

 the future be? 



There are three classes of breeders wanting cattle. Those who look 

 to beef alone; those who look to milk alone, and those who want both. 



