BREEDS OF BEEF CATTLE 271 



ments of the master breeders of history with feelings akin to rever- 

 ence, for their tasks of type founding, breed forming and breed im- 

 provement were difficult, requiring a whole lifetime in some in- 

 stances to gain the mastery, and in others two whole generations to 

 attain the highest success. But the initial step in live stock breeding 

 for improvement confronting us today, is an exceedingly simple one ; 

 we do not need to undertake the establishment of new types or 

 breeds, as there are plenty now in existence to choose from, which, 

 judiciously chosen will respond favorably to the conditions to which 

 they are adapted. The first step in the line of live stock improve- 

 ment must come from the cessation of the practice of admixing the 

 blood of the various breeds, and of using grade and scrub sires. 



Plan for Live Stock Improvement. Before introducing the 

 plan of live stock improvement, known as up-grading, it should be 

 the ambition of every man owning live stock to eventually get into 

 some line of pure-bred live stock breeding. The plan that would 

 naturally be suggested for the improvement of the common stocks 

 of the country, is that known as up-grading, which consists in in- 

 grafting the characteristics of a superior breed upon animals of com- 

 mon, or mixed breeding for the purpose of improving them. This 

 improvement is due to the superior quality of the males used, and 

 chiefly their prepotency, or power of transmitting accurately these 

 qualities to their offspring. This plan differs from cross breeding, 

 in that pure blood is used on the sire's side, and females of mixed 

 blood, or no blood, on the dam's side. Thus we have the prepotency 

 concentrated in the bull, and the very opposite in the females, as the 

 more mixed the breeding, the less stable are the inherent character- 

 istics of the individual, and therefore the less resistant to improve- 

 ment. It would be absolutely impractical to advise all owners of 

 common cattle to send their stocks to the block and purchase pure 

 bred foundation stocks ; only a few could do this for the following 

 reasons: First, if the great majority now possessed of common 

 stocks were to simultaneously seek to purchase pure bred foundation 

 stocks, they could not get them, they are not in existence, for only 

 about one per cent of the cattle in the United States are possessed of 

 pedigrees. Second, the finances of a great many holders of common 

 stock are not such as to allow them to make extensive purchases of 

 pedigreed animals, and replacement is out of the question, as it 

 would require the returns from the sale of three or four common 

 animals to purchase one pedigreed one. Third, it is highly desir- 

 able for breeders to grow into any line of pure breeding rather than 

 to buy into it suddenly, and take up a work in which experience 

 is necessary. 



In general, then, it is necessary for the majority of holders of 

 common stock to make the best use of the animals on hand, with a 

 view to improving them. Let us suppose the case of a herd of com- 

 mon, or mixed cattle of say eighteen head, and apply a plan of im- 

 provement. The first thing for the owner of this herd to do, is to 

 decide upon some one line of production, either beef or dairy, and 

 then stand by the resolution. Without this he cannot improve his 



