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CATTLE-BEARING.
549
2. CATTLE-REARING.
Next to agriculture proper, cattle-rearing and dairy-farming are
to be counted among the most important of the industries of Sweden.
The extensive meadows and the rich forest-pastures supply, too, the
most favourable conditions for cattle-rearing in our country. This
branch of industry has, however, remained stationary for a long time, and
was neglected in many respects. But the last few decades have brought
about an immense change, a more comprehensive one, perhaps, than in
any other department of our economic life.
In order to find a common expression for the amount of the stock,
the different kinds of cattle must be reduced to a unity, in regard to
their economic value. In the statistics of Swedish agriculture it has
been the custom to convert them into a »reduced number of cattle»,
in which a horse is counted as = 8/a of a head of cattle, a sheep = 1/io,
a goat = 1/i», a pig = V<; besides which, a young horse or head of
cattle has been counted as being but half an animal. By using this scale
of reduction we obtain the following figures for the total live stock in our
country, at different periods, in comparison also with the population:
Population.
Reduced number
of cattle.
Id. per 1,000
inhab.
In 1571............900,000 1,070,000 1,189
» 1805 ............2,422,000 2,018,000 833
» 1850 ............3,483,000 2,410,000 692
• 1870 ............4,169,000 2,622,000 629
» 19001............5,136,000 3,429,000 668
As regards the year 1571, the relative number of cattle is calculated by
H. Forssell (upon whose figures for that year we base our own) as being
somewhat higher than that shown here in the Table, his calculations pointing to a
smaller population than that given here by guess-work. Thus, in any case it
would seem incontrovertible that between 1571 and 1805, the increase in the
number of cattle was not, by far, equal to the increase of population, and that
the same circumstance has continued during a great part of the 19th century,
too. The contrary has been the case, however, during the last thirty years.
With regard to these figures, it must not, however, be forgotten that the
number of cattle is not the only standard, but that quality is a point of view
w> less important. If we regard this too, the relative decline just mentioned,
from the year 1571 to 1870, will be certainly considerably diminished, and
the increase, from 1870 to 1900, be of much greater value than the figures given
»bore would lead us to suppose.
If the amount of the stock of cattle be compared with the extent of the
cultivation of cereals during different periods, the result will be as follows. For
«ery hundred quintals (or 200 cwts.) of cereals harvested about the year 1570,
there were kept a »reduced number» of 50 head of cattle. About the year 1800,
1 Reindeer are also included here, to a number of 232,000, estimated as corresponding
to » >reduced» number of 46,400 cattle.
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