Live Stock Breeders' Association. 215 



reached the degree of excellence he might have started with ten 

 years ago. 



Ten or twelve good cows are better than two or three times 

 that many of the ordinary kind. The produce from a few good 

 ones will bring two or three times as much money, and you have 

 less to feed and handle. 



My most earnest suggestion to the beginner is this : Don't be 

 afraid to ask for advice and information from people who are 

 competent to advise. The man who knows that he doesn't know is 

 the wisest, they say. There are so many points in individuality 

 and pedigree that the uninformed may make irreparable mistakes. 

 You can unintentionally buy unfashionably bred animals or ani- 

 mals otherwise good but lacking in breed type or other 

 characteristics that you do not notice and will not notice perhaps 

 until you come to sell their produce. You can never sell them un- 

 less to another uninformed breeder. 



It is unnecessary to be a "pedigree crank," but it is just as 

 unnecessary to burden yourself with a lot of unfashionable pedi- 

 grees simply to prove your independence and freedom from fash- 

 ion's decrees. Life is too short to try to educate the world to your 

 way of thinking, especially when there may be some doubt as to 

 your own education. It is just as well to ride in the band wagon 

 with springs and cushioned seats, especially when the fare is the 

 same, and you are sure of a speedier and more comfortable ride. 



It will take some money to start a pure bred herd. You will 

 have something at stake, and should give them good care. To im- 

 prove them requires more thought and more attention than you 

 think. Don't imagine that pure bred cattle require no feed. I 

 have seen some herds that made me think their owners believed 

 their cattle were a kind of supernatural animals and could live on 

 their purity of breeding alone. They can't do it, and you can't 

 "grade up" a breed that will. Keep them in good condition all 

 the time. They will create a better impression, they will bring 

 better produce and will always command a price that means great- 

 er profit. If you keep them in poor condition you can expect no 

 improvement, but a retrogression. 



But one must love the business to make a success of it. He 

 should study it carefully and continuously. He must keep up-to- 

 date. He can improve his own stock, but others improve theirs, 

 too, and in different points. One man cannot learn it all in his 

 own experience, but he can be in the world and of it, and learn to 

 profit by the experience of others. There is a fascination about 



