The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-08-11
THE BREEDING
Of NATIVE AND
GRADE CATTLE
OF ABOUT 100000 HEAD OF CATTLE
NOW IN FLORIDA FULLY e5 PER
CENT ARE THE NATIVE KIND.
BY John NJ. Scott.


At the present time there are about
eight hundred thousand head of cattle in
Florida. Perhaps 95 per cent Of these
are the native Florida cattle, which no
doubt are mostly descended from the old
Spanish stock, with little or no improve
ment. 1t is stated, however, that many
cattle were shipped into Florida from
North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama
and Georgia. This influx Of cattle from
states farther north took place from 1910
to 1850, and perhaps before then. At
that time the cattle must have been SINH
lar to our native cattle, as four to six
year-old steers weighed from $50 to 800
pounds.
toward improvement of the native cattle
took place about 1S45 About this time
Mr.. McKinnon of Walton County i'm
ported direct from Scotland large Short
horn bull. This bull did good service for
a number of years. The improvement
over the native cattle was noticeable. The
size Of the grade cattle was larger, the
four-year-old steers weighing from 400 TO
$50 pounds. But little was done toward
Improvement after this time, except to
use grade bulls resulting from the use
OF the pure-bred Shorthorn bull. The I'M
provement brought about by the use OF
this one bull made an impression on the
cattle in that part Of the state which
was evident for a number Of years after
the old bull was dead. Had the good
work started by Mr.. McKinnOn been con-
a grade of beef cattle as any other state
in the Union.
At the present time Florida is more
of a livestock state than many suppose.
The following figures taken from the
Eleventh Biennial Report of the Commits
sioner of Agriculture show how the cattle
industry of the state compares with other
industries:
Cattle exclusive Of cows kept
for MILK .;;r,.;...:,,,.ii,;t;.$ S917' SS7
Poultry and Poultry products. 8 2 gao
Field crops ...................$1 4, 612, $40
Vegetable and Garden products 6,S25, 912
Fruit products ..........:......S 5'SOo' tZf
(No value is given for the fruit trees)
BEEF BREEDS OF CATTLE.
From experimental work and observa-
lions, there seems to be but little to
choose between the standard beef breeds
(including Shorthorn, Hereford, Aber-
deen-Angus and Galloway The choice
sonal fancy. We would, however, dis
courage as much as possible the use CT
dairy breeds, such as Jerseys ana Guern-
seys, in a beef herd. We find that a
certain number of stockmen In the state
are using grade Jerseys and grade Guern-
sey bulls in their beef herds Tne use OF
such bulls in a beef herd Will not make
the desired improvement. The Jersey
and Guernsey as breeds lack both the size
| and conformation desirable in the beef
animal
Good size in the beef animal Is ueSH eu
for the following reason: One animal
weighing 1900 pounds on foot viii not
require as much feed for growth ana
maintenance as will two animals weighing
! 600 pounds each Therefore, more pounds
of beef will be produced from the same
amount of feed when fed to large AMI
| NAL making the larger breeds OF cattle
| more economical for beef producuon'
GRADE STEERS.
At the Florida Experiment station
Of fifteen
native cows were selected. These ntteen
| cows were separated into three Iots OF
| five cows. The lots were aFranseo u. 70
| be as nearly equal in size ana qua4lty
| of the animals as possible. The COWS in
| Lot l were bred to a Hereford bull those
| in Lot were bred to Shorthorn Dull;
| and the cows in Lot were Dred 70
| native Florida bull From mess nl iS
| cows, twelve calves were produced Zone
COW failed to breed: a second COW was
! found to be in calf when the experiment
| started and was discarded; While a thlrd
| COW met with an accident Eacn lot UL
| until every COW was known 10 De IN can
| The cows were all kept on the same
| range until the calves were Weaneu- IN
| der these conditions all calves mad me
| same chance so far as range conditions
! Were concerned. After the calves were
| weaned, observations were continued On
| only two calves from each lot OF cows
| After weaving time the calves were all
/ kent on the same pasture in summer,
while during the winter season they were
/ given the range Of a VelVetoean ana
| Japanese-cane field So that each caf
/ was giver as nearly equal chance as
| was possible.
| The result showed that az plrtn the
| grade Ha~efords averaged 47.9 pounds:
| the grade Shorthorns, Sc pounds; and the
| natives, 4S.6 pounds. At weaving time,
/ October %. 1909, when the calves were
| about seven and a half months old, the
/ grade Herefords averaged 35l6 pounds;
/ the grade Shorthorns. 1925 pounds; and
/ the natives, 305 pounds. Thus there is
| only a slight difference in weight at birth
| and weaving time. This difference in
| weight is not more than one would expect
TO ind In weighing up three different Sc