492 BOARD OF AGtHCULfURfe. 



weight exists l)etween the two steers. I sulnuit to you it it isn't a fact 

 that the fair to medium steers ate more, gaiued less, and eut a poorer 

 quality of meat than the extra prime steers. 



For the sake of comparison I will suppose that ten head of each of 

 the aliove steers are fed, granting tliat tlie l<»w grades, or scrubs, would 

 ■at marketing time weigh the same as the high grades— say 1.400 pounds. 

 Ten head would weight 14,000 pounds, and at $4.40 would net $016, 

 against $81 G for the high grades, a difference of $195, which in itself 

 would be a good profit, and illustrates in a very moderate degree the 

 existing differences in beef cattle. 



Again, it is not beyond the intelligence of the average man to know 

 that fully 50 per cent of the dairy cows (so called) do not pay at the pail. 

 I think statistics will bear me out in saying that the dairy coavs of the 

 State of Indiana are, as a whole, kept at a loss. This fact is ample proof, 

 I take it, of the necessity of an improvement along dairy lines. Yet we 

 have dairy herds in our own county that pay handsomely, and indicate 

 what can be done where a desire is manifest. We hnd cows that are light 

 milkers and low testers, cows that are high testers and light milkers, 

 cows that are deep milkers and low testers. These two good (lualities 

 have, by persistent, careful l»reedlng. been combined. Why, then, do we 

 milk cows that are boarders? 



But the cattle men are not alone. "I thinlc if one would pass down 

 the sidewalks of our county seat on a Saturday afternoon, he would 

 see horses hitched to the sidewalks," as Senator Harris puts it— "horses 

 of every possible combination of abnormality; horses with draft bodies 

 and. trotting legs; horses with light, waspy couplings, small heads, hue 

 manes and tails, and the stout, strong, feather-fringed legs of the Scottish 

 and English drafters." Will it be necessary for me to say that I think 

 an improvement would be helpful? 



As it is with horses and cattle, so it is with sheep and hogs. And 

 the feathery trllies are not exempt. W^e find them mixed almost beyond 

 recognition. 



This is the situation we are called to face. Rather than go farther. 

 I will leave this pai-t of tlie sultject and attempt to show some of the 

 causes which I think have led up to the present degenerate condition of 

 our live stock, and advocate a plan for its improvement. 



A cause of inferior stoclv is indifferent breeding. As a result we find 

 a heterogeneous collection of mongrels and misfits — "no horse or cow of 

 uniform type, breed, gi-ade or quality." 



liUck? No. Luck does not figure in the improvement of anything 

 that lies as close to nature as live stock. It is management, good breeding 

 pure and simple, and not luck, indifferent, careless,— may I say ignorant?— 

 In-eeding that will result in success. 



The one great requisite to improvement in live stock is the "pure 

 bred" sire which, having l)een lired for generations in one certain line. 



