1921.] 



The Dairy Shorthorn. 



303 



producing a good yield of milk, calves suitable for grazing 

 into bullocks of lugh (piality, and a good carcass of beef 

 at the end of their milking days. 



It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the popularity 

 of an animal meeting these needs so well as the ])airy Short- 

 horn is extending far beyond the United Kingdom, where it 

 has held sway for upwards of a century as the farmer's cow, 

 and is penetrating deeper and deeper into the newer countries 

 of the world. Especially is this extension to be noticed in the 

 more thickly populated districts of the Eastern States of 

 America, in South America, South Africa and New Zealand, and. 

 in fact, in most parts of the world where population Is growing 

 at a greater rate than the production of food. 



At home the Dairy Shorthorn has successfully passed through 

 times of difficulty and some danger. At no period was its 

 future more seriously threatened as a double-purpose animal 

 than during the earher days of the demand from Argentina for 

 heavily-fleshed Shorthorns. The high prices then paid, and 

 the particular type which was bred in consequence, were 

 responsible for the disregard of the milking qualities which, 

 even among the very early improvers of the " Durham," were 

 so characteristic of the breed. The danger increased when 

 there began the indiscriminate crossing of heavy milking 

 English cows with the thick-fleshed Cruickshank bulls. 

 Fortunately this menace to the future of the breed was recog- 

 nised in time by a few enthusiasts, by who^e efforts the Short- 

 horn was saved from becoming primarily a beef animal. These 

 breeders succeeded in persuading the Shorthorn Society to 

 offer prizes at the principal agricultural show^s throughout 

 England, Scotland and Ireland for pedigree Shorthorn dairy 

 cows: then they formed the Dairy Shorthorn Association and 

 secured affiliation with the Shorthorn Society. Milk recording 

 in pedigree herds was encouraged, but the most important 

 step in the history of the Association will ])robably prove to be 

 the publication of the Register of Non-pedigree Dairy Short- 

 horns whose progeny may gradually qualify for admission to 

 the Herd Book. By these measures the heavy milking powers 

 of the breed were rescued from the neglect which at one 

 time seriously threatened them. 



The Government Live Stock Improvement Schemes, 

 including the grants through the ^Ministry of Agriculture for 

 encouraging the breeding of high-class commercial stock, with 

 separate grants to the ^li'k Recording Societies, have 



