106 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



There have been about one hundred head of Brown Swiss 

 cattle imported into the United States in the last thirty-five years 

 from their native country, Switzerland. Descended from these 

 about four thousand head have been entered in the herd book and 

 these have been quite generally scattered throughout the whole 

 country. Their hardy constitution, quiet disposition and gen- 

 eral adaptability for dairy purposes have created a demand for 

 them that has been far in excess of the ability of the breeders to 

 supply, and the prices paid by exporters for them have been so 

 generous that they have invaded their ranks until the breeders 

 scarcely know where to get stock to supply the demand. Carload 

 after carload have been exported to Mexico and Japan. This 

 heavy export trade, the realization of which the breeders have 

 only just begun to wake up to, and the almost prohibitive quar- 

 antine restrictions on cattle from the continental countries of 

 Europe have been such a handicap to the Brown Swiss breed 

 that it is a wonder that the few animals in the country have forced 

 themselves as prominently before the public and attained as 

 much popularity as they have. But during my fourteen years of 

 experience with the largest herd of these cattle in the United 

 States, in which time we have sold animals in almost every part 

 of it and exhibited at most of the princiapl shows of the country, 

 I have heard nothing but praise from those who have had 

 experience with them. 



Some remarkable results have been obtained from crossing 

 the Brown Swiss and the more delicate and less hardy types of 

 dairy animals, imparting in a remarkable degree size, constitution 

 and a more quiet disposition. We have found this to be almost 

 invariably the case in our own experience, and to illustrate I will 

 cite a few of the many instances which have come under my 

 personal observation. During the Columbian Exposition in Chi- 

 cago, in 1893, a bright old gentleman whose chief business in life 

 was to produce a fine quality of milk and cream for one of the 

 neighboring cities to Chicago, paid a visit to the Stock Exposi- 

 tion. The old gentleman, like a great many others, ran across 

 a herd of " great big Jerseys," (a remark, by the way, heard 



