ANIMAL BREEDING 105 



agreement, of course, is made among the members of the 

 association as to the manner of keeping and the time of using 

 the sire. 



After a man once has a start in the Hvestock business one 

 of the best ways to get a good sire is to produce him. This, 

 of course, cannot always be done, but when it can be done it 

 is a most excellent practice. 



Granting that a man has a certain amount of money to put 

 into a livestock business, in starting he should put a consider- 

 able portion into a good sire. Then he should get one or 

 more pure-bred dams and put the rest of his money into good 

 grade stock. The latter may as a rule be picked up in almost 

 any locality where one starts. Of course, if a man can afford 

 to start with pure breds so much the better. But it takes 

 more than a few individuals in a herd to make a business of 

 sufficient magnitude to make it worth one's while and good 

 grades are just as good for ordinary purposes as inferior pure 

 breds. 



Even if a man should decide to go into the business of live- 

 stock breeding and aim primarily to sell stock for breeding 

 purposes, he could not start in a large way because he would 

 first need to work up a business and a reputation. He would 

 also have to develop a herd capable of attracting attention. 

 All this takes time during which he would have to be doing 

 business with the meat markets. This can be done to good 

 advantage with grade dams and a good pure-bred sire. Many 

 times also a man needs to get experience which can be had 

 with grades more cheaply than with pure breds. 



Environment. — The general importance of environment has 

 already been discussed. There are few, if any, places in any 

 country where livestock cannot be kept profitably, but there 

 are some places that are better than other places for this 

 kind of agricultural endeavor. 



A climate that is not too hot nor too cold is better than 

 one that goes to both extremes. Humidity also is an im- 

 portant factor. Too much dampness, especially in winter, 

 is very severe on all classes of livestock. Where such condi- 

 tions prevail it requires a little more care and expense to keep 

 the animals comfortable. 



