152 



Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



A high-grade animal is one produced from a scrub foundation by 

 three or more successive crosses of purebred sires of the same type and 

 preferably of the same breed. High grades possess 87.5 per cent or 

 more of pure breeding. High-grade beef cows and heifers approach 

 purebred beef cows and heifers in their ability to produce high-class 

 beef calves when mated to good purebred beef bulls. Such matings 

 insure not only high-class calves but calves of uniform tj^De and uni- 

 form ability which contrast sharply with the variegated assortment of 

 calves produced by scrub herds. 



As stated by Wentworth, Munnecke, and Brown, ^ "The success 

 of growing cattle for the market depends in a large degree on the kind 

 of calves that are produced. Unless the right foundations in blood 

 and type are laid, no amount of feeding by the professional feeder or 

 skill in killing and cutting by the packer can make up for the original 



Fig. 50. — Crossbred beef cattle. These are representatives of the noted "blue 

 grays" so popular in the British markets. They were sired by a Shorthorn bull and 

 their dams were Galloway cows. 



deficiency. Unless proper mating is made at the start, choice to prime 

 steers are rarely, if ever, produced." 



Utility value of purebred live stock. — The U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture tabulated reports received in 1921 from 525 farmers and 

 stockmen who had used purebred sires exclusively for a number of 

 years. These men owned about 25,000 head of breeding stock, exclu- 

 sive of poultry. All their sires had been purebred for an average of 

 nine years. About 30 per cent of the female stock was purebred, the re- 

 mainder being grade, crossbred, and nondescript. Thirty-six states were 

 represented. Averages of the replies indicate that purebred animals 

 are over one-third more efficient than common stock for utility purposes. 

 The averages for each kind of farm live stock were as follows: ^ 



1 Progressive Beef Cattle Raising, Armour and Company, Chicago, 1920, p. 22. 

 2D. S. Burch: Utility Value of Purebred Live Stock, U. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. 

 235, p. 5. 



