POINT OF VIEW ON LIVE-STOCK PROBLEMS 229 



noted breeder of pure-bred cattle reports that it costs 

 him $169 for feed to grow a heifer calf to 30 months old. 1 

 Whole milk was counted at $1.80 and skim milk at 20 

 cents per hundred. Grain was charged at the actual cost 

 at the railroad station ; hay at $16 per ton, and corn 

 silage at $2.50 per ton. None of these charges is high. 

 The silage is much too low for the region. Silage is usu- 

 ally worth one-third as much as hay. It will be seen that 

 these charges do not include labor, bedding, barn room, 

 or any other of the many additional charges. The utter 

 absurdity of the common practice of assuming that such 

 stock can be grown at the same cost as ordinary stock will 

 be seen at once. Every item of expense is greater when 

 better stock is kept. When the business is successful, as 

 it is on this man's farm, the profits are much better than 

 could be secured by less intensive methods. 



The real value of pure-bred animals is because, on the 

 average, they are better producers. The best breeds of 

 pure-bred hogs make pork at less cost. The best breeds 

 of pure-bred dairy cows give more milk for their feed. 

 The best breeds of beef cattle give more beef. However, 

 there are high grades of all kinds of animals that are prac- 

 tically pure-bred. Such animals may have all the merits 

 of pure-breds, except that they cannot be registered, and 

 so the young cannot be sold at high prices for breeding 

 purposes. 



Of the 23 dairy farms included among the highly profit- 

 able farms on page 134, seven derived considerable income 

 from pure-bred cattle. The other 16 kept mostly high- 

 grade Holstein cows. Most of them kept pure-bred bulls, 

 and a few kept some pure-bred cows. The two successful 

 poultry fanns had pure-bred White Leghorn hens. 



1 New York State Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 35, p. 1003. 



