CATTLE. 93 



Many farmers, however, still make no attempt at improvement, because they have the 

 mistaken idea that they must procure a thoroughbred breed in order to receive any great 

 benefit by the change;, this being beyond their means, they continue in the former way, and 

 receive but small profit as the result. Others entertain a prejudice against blooded stock, and 

 are under the impression that its superiority consists only in the possession of a pedigree. 

 This is also erroneous, for thoroughbred animals have a value of their own, consisting of the 

 many good qualities which they have inherited from their progenitors, and the power which 

 they possess, called in breeders phrase, &quot;prepotency,&quot; of transmitting these good qualities 

 and characteristics to their offspring, while pedigree is simply valuable as a kind of certificate 

 of pure breeding. 



Pure bred stock has a money value which is being more and more appreciated by the 

 intelligent breeders and farmers of our time, for it has been tested and found of superior worth. 

 The first and principal object of the farmer is to obtain the largest profit in return for his 

 expenditure in money and labor, and this cannot be secured in the raising of cattle, or any 

 other stock, unless he keeps such as will bring the largest profit on the outlay. It costs just 

 as much, and requires just as much time and attention to keep inferior cattle as those of the 

 best quality, and since thoroughbreds and their grades do yield larger returns in beef and 

 dairy products than the native stock, it follows as a logical conclusion that they must be the 

 most profitable for the farmer to keep. 



How to Improve Farm Stock. If a farmer cannot afford to substitute at once 

 his common herd of natives for pure bred animals, and but comparatively few farmers of 

 the country have sufficient means to find it for their highest interest to do so, he may do 

 the next best thing, and the only one under the circumstances that seems practicable for him 

 to do, and that is, to improve his stock, whether for beef or dairy purpose, by the use of a 

 thoroughbred bull of the breed best suited to his requirements, and grade up, reserving such 

 of the offspring for future progenitors as possess the best characteristics of the breed. By 

 this means he would soon make a great improvement, which would be constantly progressing. 



Some of the best grade beef animals are fully equal in the product they furnish, to the 

 best pure-blooded beef breeds; while many of the high grades of the choicest dairy breeds 

 produced by crossing with the best common cows have been known to nearly, if not fully, 

 equal the thoroughbreds. Individuals of this herd will of course differ in this respect, and 

 when breeding for dairy purposes those which possess the dairy characteristics most promi 

 nently should be selected. But for breeding purposes, a thoroughbred bull of the best 

 quality should be selected. Farmers should carefully avoid using a grade for this purpose, 

 a mistake too commonly made, with usually disappointment for the result. Although a grade 

 bull may be really a fine animal to all appearances, he cannot be depended upon for trans 

 mitting his characteristics to his offspring, and would be quite as apt to perpetuate the bad 

 qualities of his ancestors as his own good ones. On the other hand, some farmers make the 

 mistake of placing too much reliance on the pedigree of the animal, and consider that because 

 a bull is pure bred, although he may be defective, as occasionally we find animals in the 

 best breeds, he will transmit the good qualities of his progenitors rather than the inferior 

 ones of his own. This is not a safe course to follow, and would probably lead to disastrous 

 consequences. 



The best bulls of the best breeds should be selected, and when these are used with dams 

 of a breed of the same quality, it is a rare thing to meet with failure; the usual result will be 

 a calf having the good qualities so strongly impressed upon it as to be able to transmit them 

 with almost absolute certainty. A calf from a good native cow sired by a thoroughbred bull 

 would be very liable to inherit many of the good qualities of the sire, while it might at the 

 same time have the good qualities of the dam strongly impressed upon it, but it would be also 

 nearly as liable to inherit her bad qualities or those of her ancestors. 

 VOL. II. 6 



