Types and Maricet Classes of Live Stock 209 



although there can never be the uniformity of ideals which prevails 

 among breeders of either beef or dairy cattle. This is true because 

 beef and dairy types represent extremes, while the dual-purpose type 

 is an avOrage of these two, or represents the middle ground. 



Profits from dual-purpose cattle.^In an investigation into the 

 methods and cost of growing beef cattle in the corn-belt states in 1914 

 and 1915, the U. S. Department of Agriculture obtained 596 records 

 from farms in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, South 

 Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. ^ Farms where cows were kept for 

 distinctly dairy purposes or where the herds were maintained only for 

 the production and sale of purebred animals for breeding purposes 

 were omitted. Records were procured on 14,634 cows and 621 bulls, 



Fig. 70.— The dual-purpose type. Red Polled bull, Teddy's Best, 32 times a 

 champion and a very noted sire. Owned by Jean Du Luth Farms, Duluth, Minn. 



and on 12,591 calves produced from them, of which 2,023 were fattened 

 for baby beef. Six distinct practices in beef production were noted, 

 as follows: 



Beef. — Farms where all the cows are kept strictly for beef (not 

 including farms producing baby beef). 



Baby beef. — Farms maintaining breeding herds for the production 

 of high-grade calves which are fattened on the same farm and sold at 

 from 12 to 18 months of age as baby beef. 



Dual-purpose. — Farms on which all of the cows are milked, and 

 either cream or butter-fat sold, the calves being weaned at birth and 

 raised on skim milk. 



1 Cotton, Cooper, Ward, and Ray: Methods and Cost of Growing Beef Cattle 

 in the Corn Belt States, U. S. Dept. Agr. Rpt. 111. 



