CHAPTER XII 

 LIVE STOCK 



Importance. — Farmers in the United States own almost 

 six billion dollars' worth of live stock, principally as follows: 

 20,737,000 head of dairy cattle, worth $1,118,487,000; 

 35,855,000 head of beef cattle worth $1,116,333,000; 20,- 

 962,000 head of horses worth $2,291,638,000; 58,935,000 

 head of hogs worth $612,951,000; 49,719,000 head of sheep 

 worth $200,803,000; and $202,506,372 worth of poultry. 



With these vast sums invested in live stock it is very 

 important that the boys and girls who are to handle this 

 vast wealth should know something about animals, their 

 habits and needs. In 1909 the total value of live stock 

 sold and slaughtered and of hve stock products sold from 

 the farmers of the United States was nearly three biUion 

 dollars. 



Live Stock and the Soil. — Aside from the vast invest- 

 ment in live stock and the annual value of live stock pro- 

 ducts is the great importance of live stock to the farm and 

 to the productivity of the soil. It is a generally recog- 

 nized fact that farms on which a considerable number of 

 live stock is kept produce larger yields of crops than farms 

 without live stock. This result is true, because, when 

 animals eat a crop of grass or hay or corn, a large part 

 of the plant food contained in the crop is returned to the 

 farm; while on farms without live stock the whole crop is 

 sold from the farm and all the plant food it contained, 

 with it. It is well worth while for anyone who expects to 

 operate a farm to study very carefully the relation of live 

 stock to the farm. 



Classes of Stock. — There are several different ways of 

 classifying live stock. First, they may be classified accord- 

 ing to the character of the animals, as, Cattle, Horses, Mules, 

 Sheep, Swine, and Poultry. Second, they may be classi- 

 fied on the basis of the uses to which they are put, thus: 



