TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK—PART X 469 



DAIBY CATTLE. 



In selecting dairy cattle it is always difficult to judge accurately with 

 the eye. The real test must be the weigh scales and the Babcock tester. 

 The cow is a machine to convert food into milk, thus she must have a 

 large middle and a strong constitution to insure best results. She must 

 also have a large udder, large milk wells, large, crooked milk veins, and 

 good sized teats. Her head should be lean and angular in appearance 

 with the eyes standing out prominently. The neck should be rather long 

 and lean in appearance, the shoulders pointed, and the back-bone rather 

 prominent. The skin should be loose and soft to the touch. In selecting 

 herd bulls, either mature animals which have already demonstrated their 

 worth as sires, or younger animals from high testing dams and sires, only 

 should be used. Remember that the best and surest results will always 

 follow the use of a mature sire which has sired heifers with good records. 

 A good dairy bull should be kept until he is twelve or fifteen years old; 

 In fact, as long as he is a sure sire. Real good sires are so rare that when 

 we do find one, he should die only of old age. All breeders of dairy cattle 

 should secure yearly tests on each and every cow in the herd. Shorter 

 tests do not really mean very much. It is the cow that stays by her job 

 that is really valuable. 



SHEEP. 



Few lines of work offer greater financial returns for the capital invested 

 than a good flock of breeding sheep. This is especially true when good 

 mutton conformation is combined with a long, dense, fine fleece. The 

 question of constitution is very important in sheep. In selecting rams, 

 blockiness, lowsetness, wide backs, loins, and heavy, well-filled hind quar- 

 ters should always be demanded. The head should be broad and mascu- 

 line in appearance, the neck short and the shoulders broad and com- 

 pact. The legs should be short and straight, especially at the hCKis. 

 The skin should be pink in color and the fleece long, dense, fine, and uni- 

 form on all parts of the body. Too much attention cannot he given the 

 importance of density of fleece. It insures a heavier clip of wool, pro- 

 tects the sheep from rain, snow, and cold weather and also sheds chaff 

 and other foreign material so detrimental to the wool. 



HOGS. 



Breeders of hogs will do well to pay more attention to the utility end of 

 the business and much less to the fad end as illustrated by the pedi- 

 gree craze, shape of head, ear, nose, dish of face, etc. The one great 

 need today in the hog businevs is a hog with s'ze, quality, and prolificacy 

 combined with early maturity. Such a hog is best described as the kind 

 that never lies to the assessor, that is, he is born after the assessor is 

 around this year and marketed, weighing three hundred pounds, before 

 the assessor comes back next year. Some such hogs may be found in al- 

 most any of the well-known breeds. With careful selection and judicious 

 mating it is surpris'ng how rapidly this type can be revived. In addi- 

 tion to the evil results of "faddism," the exclusive use of a corn diet and 

 the policy of breeding from immature sires and dams has been detri- 



