10 Miscellaneous Circular 74, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 
TABLE 3.—Summary of Sni-a-Bar market data, 1914-1924 
wae price 
when average 
Kind of stock 1 Number | Average steer marketed 
of steers | weight is worth $10 per 
hundredweight 
; ea Pounds 
Original ,@.lots) ses. S¢= eee see et eee ee 16 857 | $8.80 (—$1. 20) 
Hirst. cgoss, (© lots)'2 22822 seenee os <2 eee ae ee cee eee ee 115 1, 139; | 10:80 C2 ga) 
First, second, and third eross (20 lots) __-__-{=" 222. 32222 ees : 313 1,179 | 11.80 (+ 1.80) 
1 A few specially fattened lots are omitted. 
Table 3 shows that the greatest single step toward quality and 
better market returns occurs in the first cross. This should be 
gratifying to persons seeking to derive greater income from their 
cattle by adopting the use of purebred sires and who naturally wish 
to derive early financial benefits following their investment in one 
or more purebred bulls. 
IMPROVEMENT IN SUCCESSIVE CROSSINGS 
In the first cross there is a greater difference between the quality 
of the sire and the dam than in any subsequent crosses, and this 
accounts for the very marked improvement shown pictorially and 
by market returns. The improvement in subsequent crosses is not 
so marked in color, breed characteristics, and market returns as in 
the first cross, but it continues nevertheless. It is seen usually in 
added thickness and evenness of flesh, early maturing quality, 
smoothness of finish, refinement of head and shoulder, and the 
shortening of the legs. 
One must not expect that the third and fourth crosses will show 
equally marked improvement in market value. Improvement be- 
comes more and more difficult as the number of top crosses increases, 
until the point is reached beyond which the use of only the most 
superior sires available will result in further superiority. But long 
before that point has been reached a herd possessing unusual merit 
will have been produced and the owner will be satisfied with the 
outcome if he is so fortunate as to maintain its excellence, to say 
nothing of lifting it to higher levels. 
“The point of greatest interest in all the work to the general 
farmer,” Doctor Waters stated in discussing the results, “is briefly 
this: Beginning with cows of medium quality and breeding, the first 
generation sired by a purebred bull possessed sufficient quality when 
fully fattened closely to approximate the top of the market, and 
two crosses of such sires produced offspring that in 8 out of 10 cases 
sold substantially above the bulk-of-sales top.” 
The market results presented are in close agreement with known_ 
facts about heredity. The first cross means the infusion of 50 per 
cent pure breeding, whereas subsequent crosses mean additional in- 
fusions of 25 per cent, 1214 per cent, 614 per cent, etc. The same 
knowledge illustrates further why a purebred sire is superior to a 
erade; the latter obviously has a smaller proportion of pure breeding 
to transmit, 
