THE MANAGEMENT OP STOCK 261 



the offspring, or be perpetuated. Both of these 

 factors are determined by experience. 



480. The ideal type of animal varies with the 

 uses to which the animal is to be put and with 

 the breed. The points of merit in a dairy cow 

 (one which is raised chiefly for the production 

 of milk) are unlike the points in an ideal beef 

 animal. The points in an ideal Short- horn are 

 unlike those in an ideal Ayrshire. 



481. Animals are judged by their general 

 form, the texture of hide and hair, framework 

 or bony structure, their motions, and dispositions, 

 their performance and their products. 



1?. How to attain the ideal 



482. Having learned what the ideal animal 

 should be, the breeder strives to secure that ideal 

 by breeding only from those animals which most 

 nearly approach the ideal. 



483. Animals vary in their power to trans- 

 mit their own features to their offspring. Some 

 animals, without any visible cause, possess the 

 power of transmitting their own characteristics 

 to an unusual degree. Such animals are said 

 to be prepojent. Inferior animals may be pre- 

 potent, as well as superior ones. It is impor- 

 tant, then, to discover beforehand if an animal 

 is prepotent, or is what stockmen call a "good 



