288 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



more of risk, yet gives the buyer the greatest 

 period of usefulness the vigorous days of early 

 maturity. If judiciously managed a bull ought 

 to retain his full vigor till ten years of age, and 

 in some cases there is a manifest advantage in 

 buying a thoroughly-tested bull, even though 

 the price be proportionately high. There is 

 then no risk of losing a whole year by having 

 an inferior lot of calves come from a new bull 

 which fails to reproduce his own good points; 

 and the risk in many cases far exceeds the 

 difference in price. But a really excellent 

 breeding bull can rarely be purchased after he 

 has made his mark. So that he who seeks a 

 first-class bull must generally buy a calf and 

 take the risk of his turning out well. Hence 

 it is that one needs be so very judicious in the 

 selection. 



To sum up briefly, then, the stock bull should 

 be of the highest possible merit, according to 

 the most exacting standard of the breed, show- 

 ing all those points which indicate constitu- 

 tional vigor highly developed, healthy and 

 sprung of healthful parents, highly bred, tracing 

 through the best families, particularly those 

 celebrated for producing animals of superior 

 quality, in every respect conforming to the 

 established and popular standards "of breeding, 

 and finally, where data exists for such a con- 

 clusion, exhibiting prepotency as a breeding 



