150 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



must be given to the selection of both the cows and the bulls, and an 

 effort must be made to breed for market what the market wants and 

 will pay for in amount sufficient to return a profit. In some years, 

 feeders of cattle find it more profitable to buy a rather low grade of 

 cattle for feeding purposes, although as a general rule, it pays best to 

 feed high-class cattle that will sell at the top of the market, or near the 

 top, when finished. Breeders of cattle are confronted with no such 

 problem as to what to aim for in breeding; they should always try to 

 breed the best. Breeding herds are not so easily or quickly changed 

 to suit fluctuations in market demands as are cattle in the feeder's 

 hands; hence, breeders abide by the general rule that greatest returns 

 come from the production of the highest grade of cattle, and on high- 

 priced land especially, these are the only cattle which can be bred at 

 a profit. 



When the object of the breeder is to produce calves to be fed for 

 the market, the cows in the herd are purebred only in rare instances. 

 The 1920 census reported that about 3 per cent of the beef cattle of 

 the United States are purebred and registered (recorded in the herd 

 books of the breed record associations). ^ Purebred cattle are not so 

 numerous as to permit their widespread use, and it is impracticable to 

 advise that purebred cows shall constitute the common herds of the 

 country, nor would it be possible to bring about that condition for many 

 years to come. By all means, however, the cows in such herds should 

 be high grades of some one of the beef breeds. 



Ancestry and its importance.^-Cattle may be classified into the 

 following groups, according to their ancestry: (1) Purebreds, (2) cross- 

 breds, (3) high grades, (4) grades, and (5) scrubs. 



A purebred animal is a member of a breed, and is registered or 

 eligible to registry in the herd book of that breed. Second, the pure- 

 bred animal usually possesses a distinctive and useful type. Third, 

 it is descended from a long line of ancestors specially selected by the 

 men who founded and developed that breed, these ancestors being of 

 the same type as itself, which fact explains why the animal may be 

 termed a "purebred." Fourth, being backed up by an ancestry of 

 useful animals like itself, it has the power to reproduce this useful type 

 in its offspring, this power or ability being called "prepotency." As it 

 is a rule of breeding that whatever characters an animal inherits from 



1 The percentage of beef cattle which are purebred and registered varies widely 

 in different states. According to the 1920 census, the ten leading states in numbers 

 of registered purebred beef cattle, and the percentage of beef cattle registered in 

 each are: Iowa 5, Texas 1.9, Missouri 4.9, Kansas 3.9, Nebraska 3, Illinois 5.7, South 

 Dakota 3.2, Minnesota 6, Oklahoma 3.1, and Indiana 4.9. States having the highest 

 percentages are: Massachusetts 11.7, New Hampshire 10.4, Vermont 8.5, Wisconsin 

 7.9, and Maine 7.5. The lowest in percentages are: Florida 0.27, Louisiana 0.63, 

 Arizona 0.74, Delaware 0.9, and Georgia 0.9. 



