86 Milch Cows and the Production of Store Stock. 
with thick muscle. His business is to feed so as to keep the 
muscular system nourished while he covers it and interlards 
it with fat. The great difference between his work and the 
milk producer’s is that one wants the food turned into prime 
meat, i.e., muscle and an adequate admixture of fat on the 
back of the animal, the other wishes the food to come away 
in a somewhat similar mixture in the form of milk. 
Does the fact that an animal has the faculty of turning 
food into milk make it impossible for her, either in her own 
body when dry or through her male offspring when they are 
steered, to divert, so to speak, the milk-forming stream and 
make it turn into the more substantial material — beef ? In 
certain “ butter-making ” breeds the diversion from milk to 
beef may be said to be impossible. In the case of animals 
wanted as pail-fillers or milch cows it is, on the other hand, 
quite possible ; though it must be at once conceded that they 
will never be quite as thick fleshed as in the case of the pure 
beef breeds. These cows will fail in flesh more especially 
at the “ round ” and “ thick-flank ” ( (4) and (7) Plate I.). To 
show how very nearly beef and milk may be combined in the 
same animal, we will now proceed to the consideration of 
The Dual-purpose Cow in Practice. 
Very many stock- owners will think it superfluous to take 
up space proving that the dual-purpose cow is to be met with 
in great numbers. Nevertheless very many agriculturists of 
the present day hold the contrary opinion so strongly as to 
make it desirable that an effort should be made to bring 
evidence to establish the point beyond any reasonable doubt. 
The possibility and desirability of breeding for both milk and 
beef in the same strain is no new question, for we find Sir 
John Sinclair writing as follows in 1802 : — 
“ Whether a particular breed ought to be kept up for that sole purpose,” 
(the dairy) “ or whether it is preferable to have stock partly calculated for 
the butcher and partly for the dairy, is a point well entitled to the most 
deliberate discussion. It is probable that, by great attention, a breed might 
be reared, the males of which might be well calculated, in every respect, 
for the shambles, and the females that might, when young, produce abundant 
quantities of milk, yet, when they reached eight or nine years of age, be 
easily fattened. This would be the most valuable breed that could be 
propagated in any country, and indeed some of the best English and Scotch 
breeds have almost reached that point of perfection.” 1 
“ Deliberate discussion ” on the part of thinking men 
cannot fail to bring out the fact that, with our supply of stores 
1 Essays on Agriculture , Farming , Breeding and Fattening Cattle , and 
Longevity , by Sir John Sinclair, Bart., page 73, 2nd Edition. Printed by 
A. Strahan, New Street Square, for T. Cadell & W. Davies in the Strand, 
and C. & J. Offor, Tower Hill. 
