CATTLE BREEDING IN DENMARK. 
Cattle Breeding in Denmark.” 
By LARS FREDERIKSEN. 
A peninsula—Jutland—and a number of small islands, of which 
Seeland and Funen are the largest, no high mountains or large rivers, 
no coal, no iron, or-other mining products, 15,300 square miles of almost 
level—in many parts of the country rather poor and sandy—land, 
partly covered with woods or heather, but as a rule used for agricultural 
purposes—that is Denmark. Only a little more than one-half the size 
of the island of Tasmania. The population is about 3,000,000. If a 
foreigner recognises Denmark in the world’s doings, it might be on 
account of the name of Hans Christian Andersen and his fairy tales; 
or it might be for the reputation of the butter and bacon sent from 
Denmark to the English market. The attention of many is drawn to. 
Denmark on account of the co-operative movement in the Danish system 
of farming. Before talking about cattle and cattle-breeding, I desire 
to say a few words about that system of agricultural co-operation. 
An English author (Sir H. Rider Haggard) a few years ago asked 
the question, ‘‘ Where would Danish agriculture be to-day if co-operation 
had not been introduced into that country?” If Danish farmers had 
not learned the art of co-operation, of working together, Denmark would 
have been a poor little country, for its agricultural wealth to-day depends 
almost exclusively on the co-operative movement. As you know, the 
idea of co-operation is not a Danish one, but an English. Robert Owen 
is the recognised founder of the co-operative movement in England, 
and the working men in Rochdale opened their store in’ 1844, a good 
many years before the idea of co-operation was introduced into Danish 
agriculture. If Denmark has a good reputation in the agricultural 
world, it is owing to the way in which co-operation is practised in 
Danish farming. The cultivation of the soil, the breeds of live stock, ~ 
the whole technical system of farming in Denmark, is no better than, 
if it is'as good as, in many other parts of the world. What characterizes 
the development of Danish agriculture in the last 30 to 40 years is the 
co-operative movement. The success of co-operative farming in Den- 
mark depends on several conditions, and I shall try to explain a few of 
the main reasons which account for the great development experienced 
here. : ; 
First of all, most of the farmers in Denmark possess their own land, 
they are frecholders. In England, as in a good many other countries, 
a large part of the land belongs to landlords, to a few people, who own ~ 
most of the country and rent the land to the farmers. One of the main 
conditions for successful agricultural co-operation is, as far as my 
knowledge goes, that the farmers should own their homes and land, 
as a rent-paying farmer is always more or less a stranger to the land 
from which he makes his living. A 
* Lecture delivered to visiting members of the A.LF. by the expert in cattle breeding for United _ 
' Agricultural Societies of Jutland. i re 
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