172 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 



bull is right in all essentials he is putting bad in- 

 to the pedigree of the calf. If the pedigree of the 

 cow is not just what it should be it can soon be 

 made so by the use of good bulls but a mistake in 

 the bull is very serious and affects every calf he 

 sires. Do not use a bull of the wrong type or 

 from the wrong kind of ancestry no matter how 

 cheaply he can be bought or how good he looks, 

 for the wrong kind of a bull will spoil the whole 

 herd. The bull is the secret of making and keep- 

 ing the pedigree and the individual good or bad. 



The Term "Plain Bred". I can not close this 

 chapter without calling attention to the misuse of 

 the term " plain bred" as applied to Shorthorns. 

 I am quite sure many cattle of this breed and of 

 all other breeds are " plain bred" but to classify 

 those descended from Scotch or later day British 

 importations as well bred and those descended 

 from earlier importations as plain bred is a tra- 

 vesty on common sense, and an insult to the in- 

 telligence of any self-respecting American citi- 

 zen. 



As before stated, the pedigree of a Shorthorn 

 is only a list of names of the ancestry of an ani- 

 mal. What the individual merit of the ancestors 

 of this animal were as beef producers makes the 

 pedigree. If the immediate ancestry of the ani- 

 mal pedigreed was of the plain, common sort 

 of individuals it is a plain pedigree even if it 

 descends through fashionable crosses to a 



