Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



155 



The higher-priced bull is often the cheaper. — As to what price 

 the breeder is justified in paying for a bull, that will vary depending 

 upon the conditions. Some very satisfactory bulls have been bought 

 at very moderate prices. If a full quota of cows is at hand for breeding, 

 not less than $150 should be invested in a bull, and more often it will 

 be advisable to pay $200, $250, or more, rather than $150. A small 

 increase in the value per head of one season's crop of calves by the use 

 of the higher-priced bull, as compared with the cheap one, will return 

 the difference in the price of the two animals. Furthermore, when 

 the heifers by the higher-priced sire are used in the breeding herd, 



Fig. 51. — Selecting a future herd header. Unly good purebred bulls should be 

 used in any herd. These buyers are indicating the calf that is superior in masculinity, 

 constitution, fleshing, head, bone, spring of rib, and strength of top. 



improvement thereafter will be more marked and the desired standard 

 of excellence will be attained in shorter time. 



The following table ^ gives the averages by states of answers made 

 by western stockmen in 1915 to the questions indicated by the headings 

 of the various columns in the table. This table furnishes ample proof 

 of the fact that the average value of the live stock of a community is 



1 Barnes and Jardine: Live Stock Production in the Eleven Far Western Range 

 States, U. S. Dept. Agr. Rpt. 110, p. 27. 



