LIVE STOCK BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



The Importance of Farm Animals. The extent to which farm animals 

 furnish food, clothing and labor, is perhaps sufficient to emphasize their impor- 

 tance. A long list of useful articles manufactured from their hides, hair, bone 

 and other parts of the animal body give further evidence of how farm animals 

 contribute to the welfare of the human race. Moreover, live stock production 

 is the basis of most practical and profitable agriculture. Farmers have much to 

 encourage them in the production of live stock where they understand its care 

 and management. Well organized herds and flocks provide: 



A profitable cash income from animals and animal products. 

 A home market and profitable, prices for farm crops. 

 A means of keeping up the fertility of land and a maximum produc- 

 tion of crops. 



Cash returns for farm residues and by-products that have no general 



market value. 



A utilization of farm labor in a manner to make it profitable throughout 



the year. 



How to Make Live Stock Pay. There is evidence of serious misfortune or 

 mismanagement when live stock on the farm does not pay. Misfortune and 

 mismanagement resulting in serious losses are largely overcome and success in 

 making live stock pay is assured by acquiring a knowledge of types and breeds 

 of animals most useful in serving their purpose, and practicing a system of se- 

 lection, breeding and management that has proved most successful in the pro- 

 duction of farm animals. It pays to read the best live stock books and literature, 

 to make the acquaintance of successful stockmen and learn of their methods of 

 production, to practice consistently and persistently the best methods of breeding 

 and feeding and to raise the standard of one's herds and flocks by selecting and 

 keeping at all times the best animals one can secure. 



The Necessity for Types and Breeds. Differences in size, character of 

 body and the purposes which animals best serve, make the differences in types 

 and breeds. The type of an animal indicates its utility and is important for this 

 reason. There may be several breeds representing a given type. Breed is im- 

 portant in that it represents a class of animals that reproduce themselves and 

 their good qualities with a greater degree of likeness and certainty than do ani- 

 mals of no particular breed. 



The types and breeds of animals maintained on a given farm are a reflection 

 of the mind and the management of the farmer responsible for their production. 

 Improved breeds of farm animals are the result of many generations of con- 

 stant effort on the part of men who have had in mind types of animals best 

 adapted for serving a given purpose. The true stockman endeavors to select 

 and breed animals in a manner to preserve types that have been established. 

 Mismanagement resulting in mixing breeds, and failure to properly feed and care 



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