TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



129 



bull turned out on the range as his pedigree burned in the office 

 stove. If a full quota of cows is at hand for breeding, not less 

 than $150 should be invested in a bull, and more often it will 

 be advisable to pay $200, $250, or more, rather than $150. A 

 small increase in the value per head of one season's crop of calves 

 by the use of the higher-priced bull, as compared with the cheap 

 one, will return the difference in the price of the two animals. 

 Furthermore, when the heifer calves by the higher-priced sire 

 are gone over with a view to keeping out certain ones for use 

 in the breeding herd, there will result a herd of higher average 

 merit than otherwise, and improvement thereafter will be doubly 

 fast. The man who sees no further than first cost when pur- 

 chasing a bull is surely doomed to failure. As to which breed 

 of beef cattle to use for market production, that is a matter to 

 be decided somewhat by the conditions, but it is largely a matter 

 of personal preference. Each breed has its own special advan- 

 tages, and there is no best breed of beef cattle. 



The following table* gives the averages by states of an- 

 swers made by western stockmen in 1915 to the questions indi- 

 cated by the headings of the various columns in the table. This 

 table furnishes ample proof of the fact that the average value of 

 the live stock of a community is in direct proportion to the value 

 of the sires used. "A stream can rise no higher than its source." 



Arizona and New Mexico use the most bulls and the cheap- 

 est bulls. These states are credited with the fewest calves and 

 the steers produced are markedly inferior in weight at two and 



* Compiled from U. S. Dept. Agr. Report 110, by W. C. Barnes and 

 J. T. Jardine. 



