610 BREEDING BEEF CATTLE. 



easily kept and not difficult to manage. She is also an easy 

 milker. 



THE JERSEY is par excellence the butter cow. The quantity 

 which the Jersey cow yields is smaller than that of the Ayrshires. 

 Short-horn milkers or Dutch cattle, but the milk is particularly 

 rich in cream, and the richness of the cream itself and thorough- 

 ness with which the butter elements of the food are converted, have 

 ranked the Jersey as the most profitable of all milch cows for buttei 

 farms. 



DUTCH CATTLE, into which the Shorthorn inheritance largely 

 enters, are large milkers. 



THE HOLSTEINS are quick feeders and turn their feed into milk 

 readily. Their value as milkers nearly approaches that of the Jer- 

 seys, and they are a profitable stock to breed from. 



BREEDING BEEF CATTLE. 



How to Select Stock for Beef Production The 



main object sought in breeding cattle for meat is a constitution 

 that will take on flesh rapidly and distribute it in the most advan- 

 tageous way throughout the system. The selection of breeds should 

 be subject to the same general rules in regard to climate, etc., as for 

 dairy cattle. Cows should be selected from breeds which unite 

 flesh producing qualities in the highest degree and should have 

 more or less pure blood. The milk yield in these animals is not 

 important, as a cow is not required to give more milk than sufficient 

 to supply its calf for six months or so. The bull to lead a beef- 

 producing herd should be of pure blood whatever the particular 

 breed may be. He should be strong, vigorous, and a good specimen 

 of his class, but not coarse. His bones should be fine, the hair 

 upon his skin good and thick, and the flesh, as felt under the skin, 

 elastic. His color is not important except as it may represent his 

 breed. His flesh should be well laid on in the beef parts, and he 

 should combine as nearly as may be the desirable points of a model 

 of his breed. 



To Ensure Good Results in Breeding Young beef 

 animals should be supplied with an abundance of good care and 

 shelter and food and water, and cows and bulls should be always 

 kept well, so that their condition shall be good; this is not so much 

 on their own account as to protect their offspring from misfortune, 

 because cattle produce flesh most rapidly and to the best advantage 

 when they have good care, and the tendency of the parents in this 

 regard will be inherited by the offspring. Such a bull as we have 

 described can be used to the best advantage upon native cows, and 

 a grade bull which has been bred carefully and with a defined pur- 

 pose, will be almost as valuable to the beef-cattle breeder as a 



