12 CATTLE RAISING IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. [June 189^. 



CATTLE RAISING IN THE ARGENTINE 

 REPUBLIC. 



The remarkable and rapid development of the cultivation o£ 

 wheat in the Argentine Republic appears to have had no deter- 

 rent effect on the progress of the pastoral industry in that 

 country. Notwithstanding the fact that agriculture occupies a 

 large extent of land every year, particularly in those provinces 

 where stock raising is so largely practised, meat products 

 still constitute, in the opinion of Mr. Gastrell, Her Majesty's 

 Vice-Consul at Buenos Ayres, the principal wealth of the 

 Republic. According to official estimates published by the 

 Argentine Government in 1889, the numbers of live stock in the 

 country at that time included 21,963,930 cattle, 66,701,097 

 sheep, and 4,263,000 horses. In 1894, the number of cattle in the 

 Republic was calculated to be approximately 25,000,000, while 

 of sheep and horses there were estimated to be 80,000,000 and 

 5,000,000 head respectively. While directing attention to the 

 untrustworthy character of the available statistics of live stock, 

 Mr. Gastrell states that the provinces which contain the largest 

 stocks of cattle are Buenos Ayres, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Santa 

 Fe, and Cordoba, but there is no scarcity of cattle in the more 

 distant territories. 



The numbers of horned cattle, horses, and sheep in the five 

 provinces named are given in the latest official returns as 

 follows : — 



Provinces. 



Horned 

 Cattle. 



Horses. 



Sheep. 



Buenos Ajres _ _ - 

 Eutre Rios _ - _ 

 Corrientes - - - - 

 Santa Fe - 



Cordoba _ - _ - 



9,602,274 

 4,120,068 

 1,841,366 

 2,328,443 

 2,110,513 



1,855,426 

 719,510 

 258,696 

 527,536 

 403,879 



55,397,881 

 4,901,123 

 611,085 

 2,977,382 

 2,355,030 



The cattle are said to consist for the greater part of the old 

 race of the country, which seems to ov/e its origin to Flanders, 

 and is something like the famous Durham or shorthorn breed. 

 But for many years the Argentine breeders have been introducing 

 the best kind of bulls and cows from Europe, and have in this 

 way increased the quality and value of the stock in the country. 



Hitherto the exports of live cattle from Argentina have 

 consisted mainly of consignments to countries in the South 

 American continent, but attention has recently been directed to 

 the possibility of developing the trade with Europe and 

 particularl}^ with the United Kingdom. The following state- 

 ment shows the total number of cattle exported in the five years 



