378 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



and if he is a successful showman today at the Kansas City Royal and the 

 international, he has had experience with nurse cows without drinking 

 the milk or selling the cream. These fine, fat calves consumed that, and 

 say nothing. You can only detect it by the big carcass and soft coats. 

 Or you can satisfy your curiosity when at the big shows, if you follow 

 these fine fellows, when let out at milking time. This is all right to de- 

 velop the exclusive beef type, but it is not the class of cow that furnishes 

 milk for the family and butter for the board. It is not the class of cow 

 for the small farm. It is not the class for the thousands of large families 

 of moderate means and small estates. I have thought one of the most 

 pitiful sights in a herd is to see a fine, large, fat 1700-pound cow walking 

 around followed by a little half-starved, puny calf, with hardly enough 

 strength to keep up, because the dam barely gave milk enough to sustain 

 life, and the owner did not have an extra nurse cow. 



A MEDIUM FOR TWO EXTREMES. 



There are two extremes — one is all cow and no milk and the other 

 is all milk and no cow. There is a happy medium, and it is this medium 

 the small farmer and his family demands. It is the call of the masses. It 

 is the demand of the majority — she is coming to her own, and she will 

 not be turned away. It is the dual purpose. She is queen. I want to 

 refer again to the fine herd mentioned above — I mean the fine herd with 

 the nurse cows. This description is not overdrawn. I have seen just 

 such herds more than once. This class of breeders aim at one thino^. 

 They go in to raise high class bulls to go out and head other herds. They 

 succeed in their purpose — these young bulls are bought by breeders and 

 go in service, perpetuating their kind. There is a great evil in this method. 

 These nurse-fed calves are very attractive ; they are fixed for visitors. 

 Truly they are on dress parade. The unwary and the new beginner are 

 captivated on sight, the price is also high enough to make the calf 

 attractive, but the nurse cow and the extra work must both be paid, and 

 when the price is published it is a boom both to the buyer and the breeder. 

 The price will be published and commented on far and wide, but the nurse 

 cow will not even be mentioned. She is cheated out of her part of the 

 glory. The big milkless dam gets all the praise, or it may be the sire that 

 is working up a boom. The calf never tells the tale till taken to his new 

 home, minus the nurse cow and put on farm feed where he belongs. It 

 is not an economical process in common farm life, and it is not practical. 

 Normal prices and normal conditions will not justify it on the average 

 farm with average means. The game is worked largely on the enthusi- 

 astic new beginner and many disappointments follow. It is a great injury 



