112. FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



the animal. Of course, inheritance also has a qualifying influ- 

 ence, but that phase of the question has already been dis- 

 cussed. (See page 37.) 



Production is sought at too early a period when the 

 animals are bred too near the birth period, when the milk 

 giving begins at too young an age, or when labor is required 

 at a period too early in the process of development. 



The age at which animals should be bred depends 

 somewhat on the class of the animal and also the object for 

 which it is kept. There should be a proper relation be- 

 tween the period of the first breeding and the period of 

 average usefulness in the life of the animal. The longer 

 the time covered by this period, the longer should the first 

 mating be deferred. It is evident, therefore, that deferred 

 breeding would stand in the following order with domestic 

 animals: Standard-bred horses, draft horses, beef cattle, 

 dairy cattle, sheep kept mainly for wool, sheep kept mainly 

 for mutton, swine grown primarily for bacon and swine 

 of the lard types. The longest period of the deferred breed- 

 ing would apply to standard-bred horses, and would de- 

 crease with the other classes in the order named. It would 

 seem at least approximately correct to say that the relation 

 between the time of the first mating and the period of use- 

 fulness covered in the life of the animal, would be as one 

 is to six; that is, if the period of usefulness covered by 

 the average animal were 12 years, it may be bred at the 

 age of two years. This would make the minimum age 

 for breeding the various classes of animals named approx- 

 imately as follows: Swine of the lard types one year, 

 mutton sheep one and one-half years, dairy cows one and 

 three-fourths years, cows of the beef breeds two years, 

 draft mares two and one-half years, and the standard-bred 

 three years. In practice the two classes of sheep and swine 

 named are bred at the same age, in order to have the young 

 produced at the most favorable season of the year for such 

 production, and in order to accomplish this, the time for 

 the first breeding may come a little earlier or later than 



