Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 205 



herd and eventually defeat his plans. For instance, two animals may- 

 be selected for mating because of the excellence of their breeding; in 

 other words, the mating looks good on paper; but weakness of constitu- 

 tion may be common to both of them, and if so, it is probable that 

 their offspring will exhibit this defect in greater degree, so as to prevent 

 the fulfillment of the offspring's inherited tendency to high production. 

 Enough attempts at selecting and mating animals purely on the 

 basis of records have met with failure to show that such procedure is 

 very liable to wreck the herd. The breeder must refuse to be carried 

 away by performance to the extent of buying merely a pedigree. 

 Choose several good individuals, and then let the pedigrees be the 

 basis for the final choice. A meritorious individual should accompany 

 the meritorious pedigree. 



Advantages of dairy farming: 



1. The dairy cow is well adapted to diversified and intensive 

 farming where the farmer strives to produce the greatest possible in- 

 come from a small acreage. Striking examples of this fact are found 

 in Holland, Denmark, and the island of Jersey. 



2. If the manure is properly conserved and used, dairy farming 

 increases soil fertility. A ton of butter removes only 64 cents' worth 

 of plant food from the farm, while a ton of corn removes $6.56 worth 

 of plant food. By feeding the crops and purchased supplementary 

 feeds to dairy cows, the land may be made more productive. 



3. The dairy cow is a continuous source of revenue. The cream 

 or milk checks come in at frequent and regular intervals. 



4. Skim milk is a most excellent feed for hogs and poultry. 



5. Good grade and purebred dairy cows meet with ready sale. 

 It is also true that the dairy cow yields about six times as much 



edible solids in her milk for every 100 pounds of digestible nutrients 

 consumed as the beef steer or mutton sheep in its carcass. On this 

 basis of comparison the dairy cow is shown to be a more economical 

 producer of human food than is the steer, sheep, or pig. 



