CATTLE PRODUCTION 9 



Breeding and maintaining cattle primarily for milk production. 



Breeding and growing cattle for stockers and feeders. 



Grazing cattle on ranches of the West or large areas of farm land. 



Fattening cattle in feed lots where corn and fattening feeds are available 

 in sufficiently large quantities at reasonable prices. 



Producing pure bred cattle to serve primarily for breeding purposes. 



Types of Cattle. There are two distinct types of improved cattle, namely 

 dairy and beef. Cattle of dairy type excel in the production of milk and 

 utilize feed very largely for milk production. Good dairy cows will produce 

 milk at the expense of body weight which weight they regain only when the 

 milk flow is reduced and they are dried off. They are, therefore, comparatively 

 thin and light in form. 



Cattle of the beef type excel in the production of beef and in many in- 

 stances do not give milk enough to pay the cost of milking them. In such 

 instances the calves are allowed to run with their mothers until they are 

 naturally weaned. Beef cattle consume large quantities of feed and utilize 

 it for beef rather than for the production of milk. 



General Purpose Cow (Red Polled). 



General Purpose Type. Many cattle do not conform distinctly to either 

 of the two respective types of highly specialized cattle and for this reason 

 and the fact that they serve in producing a fair amount of both milk and 

 beef, have been termed cattle of general, or dual-purpose type. Theoretically, 

 an animal might be expected to excel in both beef and milk and thus be most 

 ideal. In practice, however, general purpose cattle excel in the product that 

 is given most emphasis. It is unreasonable to suppose that animals could 

 excel for a given number of generations in milk production and at the same 

 time retain excellent beef forms. Beef cattle require liberal quantities of feed 

 to maintain the amount of beef they are capable of producing and their milk 

 production is cut short to the extent that they utilize feed for beef production. 



