THE JUDGING OF LIVE STOCK 127 



in judgment on many occasions where the responsibilities 

 are not the greatest. 



The judgment of the farmer or stockman should enable 

 him to buy, and to develop his own herd with intelligence. 

 No man is qualified to manage any business at the present 

 day who does not know the difference in the values of the 

 goods he handles. Then why should not the man who owns 

 stock on the farm be capable of judging relative values among 

 his animals? A large number of herds of dairy cattle in the 

 United States have been shown to be unprofitable. This is 

 not as a rule due to the kind and amount of food given, but 

 rather to the kind of animals kept. The man who knows 

 how to select the right kind of dairy cows to build up a herd, 

 will find his knowledge a source of profit rather than loss, if 

 he makes good use of the same. Without doubt, hundreds 

 of thousands of dairy cows are unprofitable to their owners. 

 This in itself is a good reason why one should study the rela- 

 tion of form to production. 



Some animals have important defects that will be noticed 

 only by men who are capable judges. The man who knows 

 nothing of a horse and desires to purchase, if he depends on 

 his own judgment, is liable to buy something he does not 

 want. A side bone or a spavin may be a little thing to see, 

 but its presence on the horse is a distinct imperfection, as 

 one will quickly learn if he tries to sell such an animal. A 

 good judge will discover these imperfections and let another 

 be the purchaser. On every hand men who have given 

 no serious study to qualify themselves for this work are 

 engaged in buying live stock. 



Some experts make a specialty of buying immature or 

 green animals that give promise of great development. 

 Such men are keen students of animal form. It is not 

 ciitficult to pass on the merits of a mature horse that stands 



