DUAL 'PURPOSE CATTLE.
Red Polled cattle are native to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in England. As indi cated by the name, these are hornless, red cattle. Mature males ordinarily weigh 1,800 to 2,000 pounds, and cows from 1,250 to 1,300 pounds. This is a distinctly dual purpose breed, and is so advocated in America and England. A milk record of 5,000 to 6,000 pounds a year is quite common, though jean DuLuth Beauty 31725 produced 20,281unds in a year. The milk is a good testing about 3.75 per cent fat. Cattle of this breed incline to be somwhat nervous of temperament, in compari son with Shorthorns. Red Polled cattle are mostly found in eastern England and in the central United States.
Devon cattle originated in Devonshire, south west England, being a very ancient breed. This is a horned, red breed. There are wide ex tremes in woe with the Devon, but most breed ers in the United States, located in the East, regard it as of a dual purpose type. At one time this was a very popular breed in America, but is now rarely seen. There are no official milk records for this breed in America. The better cows produce a fair yield of excellent milk.
Brown Swiss cattle are native to Switzer land, in the eastern section. This is classed as a dairy breed by the American Brown Swiss Cat tle Association, but is really a dual purpose breed, and is so regarded in Switzerland. The color is usually dark brown, with mealy or creamy marking about the muzzle, the udder, inside the legs, and sometimes along over the back bone. This is a large, horned breed, with rather coarse heavy bones; mature bulls weigh ing 1,800 to 2,000 pounds, and cows 1,300 to 1,400 pounds, with many exceeding these weights. Brown Swiss cows yield under fair conditions 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of milk a year, testing 3% per cent fat. The cow College Bravura 2d has a record of 19,461 pounds of milk. These cattle are comparatively little known in the United States.
because of the loss involved, or small margin of profit. On the other hand, in the more thickly settled States, many farmers have changed from beef to dairy cattle, owing to the large demand for milk and the greater profit in its production in comparison with beef pro duction. Experimental research in Europe and
America, notably by Lawes and Gilbert of England and Trowbridge and Eckles of Mis souri, show the dairy cow to be a much more economical converter of products of the field into human food, than is the beef-producing animal. From 100 pounds of digestible matter in the food eaten, according to Jordan, the cow producing 139 pounds of milk yields 18. pounds of edible solids, while the dressed carcass of the steer yields but 8.3 pounds marketable products of which but 2.8 pounds are edible solids. These figures show about six times as much edible solids in the milk of the cow as in the carcass of the steer, the result in each case from equal amounts of digestible food. The feeding of cattle involves a wide range of ages, condition and purpose of the animals fed, availability of feeding stuffs and relationship to markets. Extensive experiments, especially in Germany and America, have resulted in es tablishing feeding standards for cattle and other animals under certain conditions of weight and production. The evidence demonstrates that for 1,000 pounds live weight, or fraction thereof, there is required within limitations a specific amount of dry matter, digestible crude protein and total digestible nutrients, showing a certain nutritive ratio. Modern science has provided the stockman with standards of the composi tion of feeding stuffs, as well as feeding stand ards, whereby he may without difficulty feed his animals rations supplying the correct amounts of digestible food for their several needs. At the present day many stockmen make use of feeding standards as necessary guides to intelli gent practice. Quoting the Wolff-Lehman standard, as given by Henry and Morrison in 'Feeds and Feeding,) we have the following illustrative standards for fattening cattle: Special tables are prepared for dairy cows, in which certain amounts of nutrients are al lowed for maintenance of the body functions, to which is added required crude protein and total digestible nutrients for each pound of milk based on its percentage of fat.