Dairy farming / by C.H. Eckles ... and G.F. Warren.

  • Eckles, Clarence Henry, 1875-1933.
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dairy farming / by C.H. Eckles ... and G.F. Warren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    country have become adapted to these conditions and are not so well suited to rough scanty pastures as the Brown Swiss, or the Ayrshires which have been produced on poor pastures. On the continent of Europe the breeds and sub¬ breeds are almost innumerable. They have chiefly originated in the manner mentioned. In Great Britain alone ten or twelve distinct breeds have developed. Up to about the middle of the eighteenth century these natural influences were the chief factors in the development of breeds. About that time, largely as the result of the work of Robert Blake- well, a great interest was aroused in England in improving cattle. The beginning of modern breeds may be traced largely to this great movement. The methods used were careful selec¬ tion, more liberal feeding, and good management. In some cases, as with the Shorthorns and the Ayrshires, crossbreeding and inbreeding were at first practiced. At the present time most cattle breeders direct their efforts towards further improvement in the breeds already in existence and not towards the establishment of new breeds. 15. Definition of Terms. Scrub and native are terms used to indicate that an animal does not carry more than a small amount of the blood of an improved breed. Grade. This term, generally used with some breed name, as Grade-Holstein, means that the animal has one-half or usually more of the blood of the improved breed. When the proportion of improved blood is high, the animal is called a “ high grade.” Crossbred indicates that the animal is the offspring of pure¬ bred parents of distinct breeds. Pure-bred. This term is properly applied to cattle whose ancestors came from the native home of the breed and con-