CHAPTER XVIII 

 ' STARTING A DAIRY HERD 



The solution of the problem confronting any young man 

 who contemplates starting a herd of cows to be used for dairy 

 purposes will very naturally differ with local circumstances, but 

 assuming only moderate means and the necessity for getting 

 profitable working stock at the earliest time possible, the follow- 

 ing method will generally be found the most profitable : 



Foundation Stock. — If the prospective dairy farmer has no 

 animals of any sort and is, therefore, free to select, it is highly 

 important that he bear in mind clearly the thoroughly proven 

 value of the dairy type animal, that is, the one showing capacity 

 for the consumption of feed, with spare and angular form, denot- 

 ing absence of too great a flesh-forming tendency, with udder 

 and milk veins developed adequately to balance the other parts 

 of the body and an alert temperament and good constitution. 

 The purchaser should not overlook the fact that the qualities 

 desired are more likely to be found and far more likely to be 

 transmitted to future workers if grades of some of the standard 

 dairy breeds are selected. 



The prospective dairy farmer who already has on hand a 

 herd of good, fair, and indifferent grades of no particular breed- 

 ing, should bear in mind first, that it is a very poor cow indeed 

 which is not better than no cow at all on the farm; that cows 

 vary tremendously in their ability to return profit, and that life 

 is too short to make it wise to plod along with the inferior cow 

 any longer than is necessary to secure animals of higher quality. 

 Working on this basis, therefore, the one starting in the business 

 with a mixed herd of unknown quality should keep the animals 

 he has until such time as he has good evidence to prove that 

 certain members of the herd should be disposed of and raise his 

 stock from the better half of the herd. To improve such a herd 

 a strong-blooded bull of the breed desired should be placed 

 at its head. 

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