32 The Bulletin. 



tlie West warmed-up cattle — just good smooth stuff, but not burdened with fat. 

 \\ ell-bied steers of this sort will bring from 4c. to 4i/^c. with us, and, I think, 

 over the most of the State. These steers are fed with us on the ration I have 

 named above, simply well-cured corn silage and pea-hay, and pay a good profit 

 when so fed. For wintering stock cattle to be finished on grass for export the 

 following summer, nothing can excel this ration, as by its use the animal is 

 kept sappy and growing right along. 



To finish steers for the better markets it is necessary to add to this i-ation for 

 yearling steers about 6 pounds of corn and 2 pounds of cotton-seed meal per day. 

 This ration when fed to well-cared-for cattle will be found to give good results, 

 and no ration can be fed tliat is any cheaper. If for any reason the ensilage is 

 not available, cut or shredded com stover tliat has been tiwroughly dampened 

 twenty-four hours before using may be substituted, in which case an additional 

 amount of grain. 2 to 3 pounds per day, will be necessary. 



Tlie winter lamb and the early spring lamb should be produced much more 

 abundantly in Western North Carolina than is being done at present. A good 

 flock of high-grade mutton ewes will pay all the way from 80 to 200 per cent 

 profit on their cost each year. There is an unlimited demand for choice lambs 

 in all of our large towns and cities at from four dollars to nine dollars each at 

 from 60 to 80 days old; and the wool the ewe shears will nearly pay for her keep 

 for the year. We count our little flock of ewes as one of our most profitable lines. 

 But I would warn against the purchase of large flocks, as disease and death are 

 almost sure to follow when large numbers of sheep are maintained. A small 

 flock of excellent quality on each farm is the correct thing, to our way of 

 thinking. 



We come now to the type of animal we must employ in these days if we 

 would secure the greatest profit on our breeding and feeding operations. And I 

 want to say first of all, that any male animal to head a flock or herd should and 

 must be pure-bred, and ought by all means to be registered, as you are reasonably 

 sure of getting a pure-bred animal if he be registered. In the other case, you 

 have no safeguard except the word of the man who sells you the animal. Pedigree 

 has been a great bugbear to many farmers. There is nothing strange about it: 

 a pedigree is only a record of the achievements of an animal and all of his 

 ancestors to five or more generations. So if we have a well-bred animal, as 

 we call it, we have simply an animal whose pedigree shows him to have descended 

 from a long line of fine individual animals, and in using him we have a reason- 

 able expectation that he will perpetuate in his offspring his good qualities or those 

 of his ancestors, as "like begets like or the likeness of some ancestor." In the 

 use of a grade or scrub sire we have no knowledge of what his ancestors were, and 

 hence it is only a gamble as to what his produce will be. 



Man's conception of what is a profitable meat-producing type of animal changes 

 as knowledge of what the consumer wants increases. A few years ago the large, 

 rough, upstanding animal was held in high esteem; but the consumer found that 

 in the purchase of animals of this type he was paying his money for a lot of 

 rough material that he could not use as food or was not such food as his taste 

 craved. The feeder, too, found that this was not the most profitable animal for 

 him to purchase, animals of this type consuming too much feed for a given amount 

 of gain. So the type of meat-producing animal has been gi'adually changing to 

 the more compact, blocky, smooth, short-leg, medium size. This is to-day the 

 type that is bringing the highest price per pound on all the best markets. This 

 applies to all manner of meat-producing animals — the steer, the hog, and the 

 slieep or laml>. The sire is. of course, the foundation and our main dependence 

 in working toward a given tvpc, so it is of the greatest importance that in the 

 sire we secure to head our flocks or herds we obtain as near the perfect type as 

 possible. Of course, where our aim is to produce grade animals for the open 

 market we cannot afford to jiurchaso very high-priced males, but we should see 

 to it that our sire is strnntr in all essential points. He should have a broad 

 blocky head, as this is one of the indications of an easy feeding animal. His legs 

 should be short, his back broad, and he should carrv this breadth all the way 

 back. Tlien if he have a deep well-filled hindquartor he will stand a pretty good 

 chance to prcnluce these essential qualities in his offspring, provided he is, as 



