USEFULNESS IN ANIMALS 1 15 



horse and mule that the period of production shall be 

 prolonged than with animals whose flesh is used for meat 

 since lab(5r is the only return which these animals furnish. 



Moderate feeding and usefulness. The influence of 

 excessive feeding at any time during the life of the animal 

 is adverse to prolonged usefulness, and the earlier that it 

 occurs, the more harmful is it. The harmful influences are 

 clearly seen in the results from fitting young animals for 

 the fair, in the decline of breeding power in the milch cow 

 fed for any prolonged season under high pressure, and in 

 the curtailed period of production in the same. 



The opinion is current among experienced breeders 

 that fitting a herd or flock for the fair is in a manner 

 sacrificing the breeding qualities of the same. The advice 

 is freely tendered to those who are about to lay the foun- 

 dation of herds or flocks not to invest in prize winning ani- 

 mals. The opinion in the one instance and the advice in 

 the other, is grounded on experience and observation, if 

 not indeed on both. When breeders claim, as sometimes 

 they do, that a certain animal in the herd is too valuable 

 to sacrifice by fitting it for the fair, there is great signifi- 

 cance in the statement. It is not to be understood, however, 

 that the breeding powers of all animals are destroyed or 

 even greatly lowered by such fitting, but it is to be under- 

 stood that such hazard is always or nearly always present, 

 and that it is the result of forced feeding. The larger the 

 proportion of succulent foods fed, the more advanced the 

 age of the animal and the greater the skill of the feeder, 

 the less is the hazard from such fitting, and in fitting dairy 

 animals it is largely eliminated, since the basis of judgment 

 rests largely on the evidences of milk capacity which does 

 not involve the question of capacity to lay on flesh. 



That breeding power in milch cows wanes under high 

 pressure feeding of long duration has been shown in nu- 

 merous instances by the results from such feeding with 

 many of the most famous performers at the pail. The state- 

 ment cannot be gainsaid that the progeny from them which 



