CHAPTER IV. 

 THE BREEDING OP CATTLE. 



I. EARLY SYSTEMS OP BREEDING. II. BAKEWELL'S TEN RULES. -TIT. "WHAT 



THE BREEDER MUST KNOW. IV. COMPARE RESULTS. V. THE ASSIMILA- 

 TION OF FOOD. VI. THE BREEDER MUST BE A GOOD FARMER. VII. 



BREEDING FOR BEEF.— VIII. BREEDING FOR MILK. IX. BREEDING FOR 



LABOR. X. THE BREEDS FOR BEEF AND MILK. XI. SOME FACTS ABOUT 



BEKF. XII. VALUE OF SIRES IN DIFFERENT HERDS. XIII. KNOW WHAT 



YOU BREED FOR. XIV. DEFINITION OF TERMS. XV. HOW TO START A 



HERD. XVI. HOW THE HERD WILL GRADE. XVII. TAKING A LINE 



CROSS. XVIII. SOME SPECIMENS OP CLOSE BREEDING. XIX. THE GESTA- 

 TION OF COWS. 



I. Early Systems of Breeding. 



Until within the last 200 years the whole art of breeding animals 

 might have been summed up in the aphorism, "Like produces like ;" 

 and hence that other proverb, "Breed from the best." Yet, simple as 

 these principles were, they seem to have been followed in a very feeble 

 way, as, indeed, they are to this day by a majority of farmers, or by 

 those who have not studied the principles of the art they practice. 



Up to the time of Bake well, who, had he undertaken any other pro- 

 fession than that of breeding animals, would have been eminently suc- 

 cessful, the breeder's art consisted in mating those animals whose gen- 

 eral characteristics seemed the best, wholly disregarding the advantages 

 of breeding to animals pre-eminent for the possession of particular qual- 

 ities that it was essential to perpetuate. Bakewell believed not only that 

 like would produce like, in a general way, but seems to have known 

 that the rule extended to the minutest detail in the organization and 

 make up of the animal. Hence, his study of form, in the anatomy and phys- 

 iology of animals, was made with a view to the adoption of a standard, 

 or model, by which he sought to secure large proportions, early matu- 

 rity, superior flesh in the choicest parts, and uniformity in the transmission 

 of these qualities from the sire and dam to the young. 



His eye seems to have been so well trained in detecting faults in the 

 development of animals, and the proper correlation of the parts, one to 

 the other, that the slightest variation of form never escaped him. No 

 breeder since his time seems to have used such nice judgment, or to have 

 possessed so critical and thoroughly trained an eye. None of his suc- 

 cessors have equaled him in the capacity to trace cause and effect, or to 



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