THE BREEDING AND CARE OF SHORTHORNS. 325 



the market for breediag purposes. As land increases in value, as the demand 

 for more and better meats increases, more improved cattle will be demanded; 

 from this fact, that farmers cannot afford to raise inferior stock, and the low 

 prices for wheat and many other kinds of grain, will force the farmer to raise 

 better stock in our own State, and the demand must be good for all time to 

 come. This much is true, and when is added the vast demands of the west 

 and southwest, the prospect is still further guaranteed. To make improve- 

 ment, and to increase the permanent value in his herd should be the aim of 

 every breeder. 



This cannot be done at random. The mere act of coupling animals of 

 different sexes is not breeding in its full sense. If you were to make a draft 

 of a house which you would build, you would be expected to know, before you 

 ever struck a blow with the mason's hammer, or drove a nail, or cut a stick of 

 timber, for said house, Just how it would look when completed ; also how far 

 from the road it should be located, on what site it should be placed, how it 

 should be painted to bring out the most beauty, how the interior should be 

 constructed to be of the most practical value and beauty. All this you would 

 be expected to know before you would be considered a finished builder or 

 architect. Every inventor should have his model, and in constructing the 

 design the model should never be lost sight of. He must, if he succeed, pro- 

 duce in substance the model of his imagination. If yon would paint a 

 picture you must have your model to work towards. Some paint from imag- 

 inary, some from real models, but some model is necessary to produce what 

 is desired. So in breeding Shorthorns, every successful breeder must have his 

 model. He must have in his mind the form of the animal he wishes to pro- 

 duce, and then his effort should be to produce it. And here comes the diffi- 

 culty. He is to breed the cows of which he may be possessed. In this case 

 he must depend upon the bull he uses for improvement. What sort of a bull 

 does he need? There are plenty of well bred bulls within his reach. The 

 difficulty lies in selection, and this has always been one of the troubles towards 

 success. A great deal of care, observation, and study are required in this 

 selection, for frequently bulls looking alike, and bred alike, breed with very differ- 

 ent results, and it is, in a great degree, experimental, though not entirely so. 

 A breeder, in my opinion, should study well the breeding of his herd ; should 

 know, if possible, their antecedents. He should find out how much blood of 

 the cow from which they take their family name there is in the cows he pro- 

 poses to breed. He should study as much as possible how well the different 

 strains of blood in his cows have blended, also whether similar strains have 

 been used or whether they have been bred promiscuously. He should also 

 qualify himself with the facts regarding the results of mingling the blood of 

 certain families, and in selecting a bull he should be sure and get one which 

 would be likely to sympathize with the blood of the cows which are to be bred 

 to him. Then if the individuality of the bull is such as he wants, and bulls 

 of such family have mixed well with similarly bred cows, then he will do to 

 experiment with. 



The bull should be as near as possible to the model he would imitate. In 

 my Judgment the model for a Shorthorn should approach a perfect butcher's 

 animal, for the final end of Shorthorns should be beef. This last remark is 

 made with a belief that what would be admitted as essential qualities in a model 

 Shorthorn, would also be desirable qualities in a butcher's animal. The descrip- 

 tion of the animals which were awarded the prizes at the fat stock shows 

 recently held at Kansas City and Chicago answered well the qualities of a model 



