302 



The Dairy Shorthorn. 



[July, 



THE DAIRY SHORTHORN. 



Robert Hobbs, Kelmscott. 



The economic value of a dual-purpose breed of cattle 

 io the community as a whole would appear to be in some 

 danger of being overlooked, and the tendency at the moment 

 is rather to consider the merits of such cattle from the point 

 of view of the individual farmer. Writing, however, as one 

 whose father and grandfather both demonstrated the great 

 value and, in certain circumstances, the indispensability of 

 dual-purpose cattle, I find that thirty years' personal experience, 

 em.phasised particularly during the last seven years, has 

 but served to strengthen my conviction that, to serve a densely 

 populated country, dual utility cattle are one of the supreme 

 factors in the production of the three great food essentials — 

 grain, meat and milk, with the products of the latter, cheese 

 and butter. 



To-day no country with any economic self-respect is content 

 to take the native breed of cattle as good enough for its own 

 particular needs; it demands something capable of meeting, 

 in the greatest possible degree, the requirements created by 

 climate and its peculiar social conditions. Thus it is to be 

 understood that in new and therefore undeveloped countries, 

 where vast tracts of land are to be had at merely nominal 

 values, as in the wheat-growing districts of the United States 

 and Canada and the grazing ranches of Argentina, beef pro- 

 duction and grain crops are the predominant considerations 

 with the agriculturist. In Argentina, in point of fact, milk 

 production beyond the level necessary for the rearing of the 

 calves born on the ranches is regarded in the light of 

 a nuisance. On the other hand, in the dairy districts of 

 Australia and New Zealand, beefing qualities are almost 

 entirely ignored. So long as the regions immediately adjoining 

 ■these, agriculturally speaking, " single-purpose areas " under- 

 go no further development the single aim remains, but the 

 moment the surrounding country makes appreciable industrial 

 growth the agricultural development takes another course. It 

 may almost be said that it is not until the population increases 

 greatly and large cities make their appearance that the proper 

 development of agriculture commences. The first consequence 

 of industrial extension upon the farming of the district is an 

 attempt to meet the demand for cattle which are capable of 



