NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 279 
ure in building up your herd. He is the corner stone upon which the 
whole structure, whether for good or mediocre, your herd building stands. 
He should be selected from a long line of successful performers. Have 
size, constitution, a highly nervous organization and individually a good 
type of the breed he represents. Price should be the last thing to take 
into consideration in the purchase of the sire of your herd. The best is 
the cheapest and is none too good. Having selected the best sire you can 
afford, your next attention must be given to the care and feed of the 
dam of your new yet unborn herd. She must be fed with suitable food to 
stimulate a large flow of milk and maintain that flow and at the same 
time nourish and grow the unborn calf so that when it comes into the 
world it will be strong and of good constitution and ready to begin its 
mission on earth, a superior cow to its dam. The calf should be kept 
growing and thrifty every day of its young life. Feed bone and muscle 
producing foods, see to it that it has a dry warm place to rest and sleep. 
A well lighted and ventilated room for winter and plenty of grass, water 
and shade in summer. 
This treatment should contiue until 18 to 20 months old, when she 
should be bred. From now on greater care and attention should be given, 
as the young heifer has to make growth and assume the duties of mother- 
hood, which make great demands on her and which must be met by a 
most generous supply of nourishing food and kind treatment. The sire 
used on this heifer should be of a higher order than her sire was, and if 
possible each succeeding sire should be superior in breeding to his prede- 
cessor. In this way each year selecting the most promising heifers, it will 
be but a few years before you will have a herd of highly profitable cows 
of uniform type and color and which will sell at a very much higher 
price than the ordinary cow. It is no exaggeration to say these high 
grade will readily sell for two to three times the price the original cows 
from which the start was made. 
Now, will all this grading up pay? Would not the better feeding and 
care of our common cows give very much better results than are usually 
obtained from a herd of common cows. It undoubtedly would, but the off- 
springs of these cows would not be any better than the original stock. 
While in breeding from pure bred sires generation after generation the pow- 
er of large production becomes a fixed characteristic. It also produces a 
uniform lot of stock which enhances the selling value of the herd very 
much, while on the other hand breeding common stock gives you all colors, 
types and sizes and with uncertain powers of produceitn. Now, will it 
pay to thus grade up a herd? Go into any locality you please and the man 
who is making the most money dairying will be found to own pure bred 
or high grade cows of some one of the dairy breeds. Milk and butter is 
what we are feeding and caring for in a cow, and that cow is the best 
cow which yields the most money above cost of feed and labor, and this re- 
sult can be obtained every time with a carefully graded herd of dairy cows, 
while with common or dual purpose cows the profit is very much smaller 
or none at all. 
A comparison of the pure-bred dairy cattle and the common and so- 
called dual purpose cattle in the production of milk and butter or other 
dairy products might be made by comparing the best of each of these types 
