WISCONSIN BULLETIN 224 



Numerous questions on the economical production of beef come 

 to this station from Wisconsin farmers. To answer many of these 

 questions as simply as possible is the purpose of this bulletin. 



THE CATTLE TO KEEP FOR BEEP 



Anyone who expects to feed cattle profitably for the market 

 should not try to feed an animal that is not by conformation and 

 other physical characteristics naturally adapted for fattening. 

 In short, only good feeders should be selected. 



The good feeder comes from parents that are good feeders 

 and whose ancestry is of good feeding stock, accustomed to con- 

 sume large amounts of feed and deposit it upon their bodies as 

 meat of good quality. The importance of good breeding upon 

 the quality of animals kept for a specific purpose, cannot be over- 

 estimated, and the use of pure bred sires in establishing good 

 working herds cannot be overvalued. 



The mating of a common ancestor or one of no known breeding 

 with a pure bred sire and continuing to use a pure bred sire on 

 the following generations of offspring is known as "grading." 

 Good common cows bred to vigorous pure bred Short Horn, Here- 

 ford, or Aberdeen Angus bulls show in their calves remarkable 

 improvement over themselves in type and quality. ( See Figure 

 1.) It should be remembered that the value of the grade is due 

 to the characters derived from pure bred ancestors. Table I 

 shows the effect of the pure bred sire in improving common stock. 



TABLE I. GRADING-UP A SCRUB HERDa 



Disappearance of unimproved blood by the continuous use of pure bred sires 

 on succeeding generations. 



a Principles of Breeding by Davenport, p. 602. 



In this table it is assumed that pure bred sires are used and the 

 female offspring of the dams of the preceding generations are 



