206 PRINCIPLES OF FARM PRACTICE 



scrubs or inferior animals. They are more profitable whether 

 produced for meat, milk, or labor than those of inferior breed- 

 ing. The advantage of good breeding is illustrated by the 

 following example. A herd of twenty-seven dairy cows 

 produced in one year an average for each of 3737 quarts of 

 milk. This herd had been gradually improved and developed 

 from animals that were about the average for the county 

 in which the farm was located. The county average was low 

 as indicated by the estimated yield which was annually 

 but 1989 quarts per cow. Estimating the milk at four cents 

 per quart, the gross income produced by the average cow 

 of the county was $79.56, while that of the average of the 

 improved herd was $149.48 a difference of $69.92 in favor 

 of the latter. This is not an unusual incident. In almost 

 any locality a comparison of the milk production of the 

 average cows with that of improved stock will show a similar 

 difference. 



Feeding farm animals. Success in live-stock production 

 depends quite as much upon proper feeding as upon the 

 selection of good animals. Indeed, well-bred animals re- 

 spond better to careful feeding than those of inferior breeding. 



Reference was made in a previous chapter to a feeding 

 balance. Such a balance includes rough feed such as hay or 

 pasture; concentrates which have a large starch content, 

 such as corn; and protein feeds such as that furnished by 

 clover and alfalfa. It happens that a crop rotation which 

 will fulfill the first two requirements of a cropping system, 

 mentioned in the chapter on Crop Production, will also meet 

 the needs of farm animals. For example, a wheat-clover- 

 corn rotation tends to maintain soil fertility through the 

 clover, to secure freedom from weeds through the cultivation 

 of corn, and to control plant diseases and insects through 



