79 
MILCH COWS AND THE PRODUCTION OF 
STORE STOCK. 
The cattle industry in England tends to divide itself into 
three divisions which are all, though constantly over-lapping 
and to a certain extent intermingling, more or less separate 
from one another. The men dealing with these three divisions 
of stock may be briefly described as breeders, feeders, and 
milk-producers. 
From two of these groups we have had, during the last few 
years, a unanimous cry against the re-opening of the question, 
which Mr. Walter Long sought to close for ever by statute, of 
the admission of colonial or foreign store stock. That this 
should be so is obviously logical from the point of view of the 
breeding community, i.e., of those owning pedigree as well as 
store stock-producing cattle. 
The cow-keeping farmer is almost as logical in his 
opposition as is the breeder. He has a large amount of money 
invested in animals which, owing to their highly developed 
milking systems are more or less bound to be delicate, which 
animals have for a great part of the year to be housed under 
conditions which almost ensure that any contagious disease 
imported from abroad should run a rapid and terrible course. 
It is true that the milk-producer has not specimen stock, such 
as are owned by some pedigree breeders, which have not only 
a high monetary value, but also an individuality representing a 
lifetime’s work impossible to replace. But, on the other hand, 
the milch cow owner has a great deal to lose from the point of 
view of commercial “ goodwill,” for, in the event of an 
epidemic destroying his cattle, the contracts or customers on - 
his milk walk may be lost, never to be regained. This state of 
* things, so well known that words would only be wasted in 
giving more emphasis to the position, leads to an outburst of 
indignation, almost unagricultural in its unanimity, from 
breeder and milk-producer, whenever the question of altering 
the status quo arises. 
The feeder does not, nor can he altogether be expected to, 
look upon the prohibition of imports with the same enthusiasm. 
He is a manufacturer of an article that is not a monopoly, his 
beef has to meet foreign competition on far harder terms than 
has the milk produced by his cow-keeping confrere. He has 
no direct regard for the individual animals which are essential 
