74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



would be useful for years in the dairy. Professionals at the 

 business are continually scouring the country for cows that 

 are soon to freshen; hence the temptation is strong to buy 

 one of these to replace the cow that has but recently become 

 dry. 



In another way the sacrifice of good material for cows is 

 very great. It occurs in the States that border on the western 

 ranges or are not distant from them. Female calves in the 

 neighborhood of one year old are purchased in great numbers 

 and shipped out to the free-range pastures ; in two years they 

 are shipped eastward to be finished for beef. Many of those 

 heifers would make excellent cows, while but few of them 

 make beef of the quality that is most sought for. 



Loss of Stamina. 



All are agreed as to the great value of stamina in dairy 

 cattle. It is the power that drives the machinery resulting 

 in production. Stamina has been lost in dairy cattle: (1) by 

 requiring lactation at too early a period; (2) by forcing 

 lactation unduly; (3) by adhering too closely to extreme 

 dairy form; and (4) by too close confinement. 



More commonly dairymen bring their heifers into lactation 

 at the age of twenty-four months. The object is to encourage 

 a bias in the system toward milk-giving. So far that object 

 is good. But in reaching out for it, harm may result in cer- 

 tain directions. The young heifer has not yet completed her 

 growth. As soon as she becomes pregnant some of the food 

 fed is diverted from the heifer to the sustenance of the foetus. 

 This means that under normal conditions the heifer that pro- 

 duces a calf at twenty-four months will be of less size at 

 thirty months than the heifer which produced her first calf 

 at thirty months. That lack of robustness characterizes the 

 progeny more or less, in the minds of dairymen, is evidenced 

 in the fact that they do not care to rear such progeny for 

 replenishing the dairy. The extent to which early lactation 

 has been required has unquestionably militated against size 

 in some breeds. The contention that nature points toward 

 early breeding, since animals are capable of breeding at a 



