No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 335 



Can you place a value on a lot of the best bred milcli cows — cows 

 that give their owners a profit for every pound of feed fed into 

 them? We therefore advocate the breeding to better sires, of what- 

 ever type you may select. It is the growing of the best of every 

 kind of live stock that pays, and we would offer a word of caution 

 along the line of the stockyard bull. One reason why the "Foot and 

 Mouth Disease" got into so many herds in Pennsylvania in so short 

 a time, was because it was carried by stockyard bulls. These are 

 bulls which dealers pick up in the stockyards and ship to dairy 

 sections, where they are sold to dairymen, whose sole requirements 

 are that the bull should be cheap and sure. Any bull, regardless 

 of individuality, ancestry, or prospective posterity, is good enough 

 if he is cheap enough and sure. A bunch of bulls from an infected 

 pen at Buffalo, N. Y., was taken into Pennsylvania, and cost the 

 State probably more than all the stock bulls ever sent from the 

 stockyards were worth. Beware of the stockyard bull. One of them 

 carried abortion into a large herd of fine cows, whose owner lost 

 enough to pay for a dozen good bulls before he got rid of the trouble. 

 Another bull took Pink-eye along with him, and his owner found he 

 had cost several hundred dollars, and wasn't worth anything, either. 

 Buy your bulls from breeders, whose herds are free from disease. 

 They will cost a trifle more, but they will be worth infinitely more 

 if any calves are to be raised, and we notice that a few calves are 

 raised even from stockyard scrubs. Nowhere else is the Pennsyl- 

 vania farmer so short-sighted as in the case of the sires he uses. 



The same thing is true along all lines of stock-breeding. Better 

 stock to breed from is the crying demand. We, as farmers and dairy- 

 men, cannot expect very much improvement in the quantity of milk 

 produced, or butter, unless we make an honest effort to get better 

 sires and mothers for the foundation to build upon. Farmers in 

 Pennsylvania are giving much time to the production of milk, but 

 comparatively little to the breeding of animals that will, in the fut- 

 ure, produce the milk. 



There are in Pennsylvania 224,248 farms, with an average of about 

 15 head of live stock upon each; but how many of these, especially 

 milch cows, are raised on these farms? It is estimated that Penn- 

 sylvania imports about 15,000 dairy cows every year, mostly from 

 New York and Ohio. These cost about 1600,000, or an average of 

 .f40 per head. This State can raise as good cows as any other in 

 the Union, and it will be a business of no small importance if proper- 

 ly carried out. In the last census year, 1900, 98.502 animals were im- 

 ported and slaughtered for meat alone. Can Pennsylvania farmers 

 not take a hand in this matter, and secure some of the dollars that 

 go out to other states. It may be true that where mixed farming 

 is in vogue, and on account of high priced lands, we had better buy 

 than raise the beef animals, but it is also true that Pennsylvania has 

 many districts that could raise more cattle, and be profitable, as 

 well. Meat prices are advancing, and meats at this time may be 

 very close to the 15c per pound average. 



The raising of horses can be taken up with the same assurance 

 of success. Almost all the heavy draught horses are now shipped 

 into the State from the states further West, and big prices are paid 

 for them. I just met a dealer who has been West and bought a car- 

 load of draught horses to fit up and sell, and he claims to have paid 



