CATTLE 289 



beef animals from the home herd, asking his father to help 

 in the judging. 



Beef breeds. Among the chief breeds of beef cattle in 

 the United States are Shorthorns, or Durhams, Herefords, 

 Aberdeen-Angus, and Galloways. Several different breeds 

 have also developed a polled, or hornless, type. Except for 

 the lack of horns, the polled breeds closely resemble the par- 

 ent breed from which they were derived. 



Feeding beef cattle. Feeding grain and roughage 

 to beef cattle is a more profitable way to market them than 

 to sell them off the farm. In this way the fertility of the 

 soil is also conserved, and better crops produced. 



The fattening ration for cattle is slightly different from 

 the dairy ration, the nutrient ratio for beef being 1 : 7, as 

 against 1 : 6 for milk production. This is to say, that the 

 fattening animal should have a balanced ration consisting 

 of one part protein food for every seven parts of carbohy- 

 drates and fats. 



9. Tuberculosis in Cattle 



Tuberculosis is a common disease among cattle. It is 

 more common among dairy cattle than beef cattle. This is 

 probably because dairy cows are kept to a greater age than 

 beef cattle, and are more closely confined in barns. The 

 effects of tuberculosis in a dairy herd are ( 1 ) lowered milk 

 production and final loss of the tuberculous animal by death, 

 and (2) danger of giving the disease to people, especially 

 children, who use the milk. 



Prevalence of tuberculosis in herds. There is no 

 way of telling the exact number of cattle affected by tuber- 

 culosis, as comparatively few herds are examined for the 

 disease. It is not uncommon to find as high as seventy to 

 eighty per cent, of the cows in a herd diseased, some with 



