346 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



want beef production we must begin in calf- 

 hood; if we want milk production we must 

 begin at, or just prior to, the first period of 

 lactation. 



A distinguished man of today, when asked 

 when one should begin with a boy to make a 

 scholar of him, is said to have replied: "You 

 must begin with his grandfather." It was an 

 answer on the lines of the old proverb: "You 

 cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." 

 Both teach, when applied to cattle-breeding, 

 the principle of the force of heredity; the value 

 of improved breeds. We cannot make a prize 

 dairy cow out of a scrub. But even the scrub 

 may be made better as a milker by proper care; 

 may be made better, and may be made to pro- 

 duce a calf better than she otherwise would, 

 transmitting the impulse. It is the same thing 

 as the unequaled "corn-crib cross" in the beef 

 breeds. Of course, where milk is the object par 

 excellence, the first thing to be done is to select 

 high-class dairy stock. Now, we are only con- 

 sidering the best means of getting all there is 

 in a given lot of cattle out of them, be they 

 good, bad, or indifferent. Given the cows we 

 want to make them yield as much as possible. 



It must be remembered that we cannot make 

 something out of nothing. Axiomatic as is this 

 statement it is not practically believed in by 

 many farmers. The demands upon the food 



