136 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



ing to come up to this mark, so to speak, were consigned to the 

 butcher. At first this dead-line was fixed at a very conservative 

 point, viz., about 200 pounds of butter in a year, so as not to have 

 so large a proportion of the average herd fall behind as to be dis- 

 couraging to the owner. Later this amount was gradually raised, 

 until now in the very best dairy herds 350 or 375, and in rare cases 

 400 pounds of butter per year would be regarded as the minimum 

 production of a cow that is entitled to a permanent place. 



Precisely the same principle must be applied to the beef herds 

 on the high priced land of our corn belt, if this industry is to con- 

 tinue to hold its own in competition with pork and mutton, and 

 horse and mule, and dairy production. Thus, every cow failing to 

 produce a calf worth $20.00 in the fall and in addition, after the 

 calf is weaned, to produce enough milk and butter to pay for her 

 feed and the labor involved, up to within a reasonable time of 

 calving, should be sold for immediate slaughter as unfit for a herd 

 cow. Applying the dairy herdsman's method still further, this 

 minimum price for a steer calf at weaning time should be rapidly 

 raised above $20.00, or the amount of milk and butter the cow is 

 required to produce should be rapidly increased. 



In this connection it may be well to say that it is out of the 

 question to expect very high development of the beef qualities at 

 the same time that very high dairy qualities are developed. These 

 two qualities are apparently antagonistic one to the other, and this 

 antagonism manifests itself very markedly when an attempt is 

 made to carry them both along to a high degree of development. 

 In other words, beyond a very reasonable degree of development, 

 the two have not yet been carried together in one and the same 

 animal. If a very high development of the beef qualities of the 

 animals is sought, it must be expected that the dairy qualities must 

 be somewhat subordinated. 



Conversely, if the dairy qualities are to be sharply intensified, 

 it is unreasonable to expect the calves to have more than mediocre 

 beef quality. We hear much about the dual purpose cow, which 

 in general is a mediocre beef cow and a fairly good milker, or a 

 mediocre milk cow and a moderate beef animal. 



Nevertheless, the average cow of the corn belt now kept chiefly 

 for the production of beef calves is so mediocre a beef animal that 

 she ought really to be a high class dairy cow at the same time. Or 

 this same average cow is a poor enough milker so that she ought to 

 produce a beef calf worth practically twice as much as it is without 

 having her milking qualities affected in the slightest by this rela- 



