36 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



character of the breeding, in magnificent individual develop- 

 ment and in satisfactory condition as to flesh and 

 apparent thrift at the time, it is more than questionable 

 if this herd, for the number of animals in it, could have 

 been equaled in America, and yet, every now and then, 

 some individual of the herd would pine away and at 

 length succumb to the disease, nor can it be certainly 

 told from the appearance, whether tapeworm or stom- 

 ach worm is present or not in mature sheep. If indi- 

 cations exist, therefore, which happily they do, that are 

 any guaranty of prospective good health in animals, their 

 importance will be at once apparent. 



The indications of prospective good health, or rather, 

 indications that are a guaranty of these, are to be sought 

 in the records of the ancestry in the near generations 

 and in the health of the herd during recent years. For 

 instance, if a cow that has suckled her own calves has 

 produced one or more that has been found tubercular 

 when purchased for breeding, it would be very unwise 

 to invest in any of the progeny reared by the same. If 

 stomach worm or tapeworm has been known to dec- 

 imate a flock of sheep during recent years, it would be 

 exceedingly unwise to purchase breeding animals from 

 the same unless sufficient evidence has been furnished 

 that the germs have been removed from the flock. Since 

 the seeds of the disease may thus be introduced with an- 

 imals apparently in perfect health, and which may never 

 succumb to such parasitic diseases or show any indica- 

 tions of injury from them, and yet those same seed germs 

 may prove the source of great harm to the flock in the 

 future, even to the extent of destroying it. When swine 

 are purchased for breeding from herds that are accus- 

 tomed to run behind cattle in the feed or pasture lot, 

 that are being fed on whole grain, the danger is present 

 that tuberculosis may thus be introduced into the breed- 

 ing herd, unless it is positively known that no individuals 

 of the breed are affected with tuberculosis. 



