20 



Farmers' Bulletin 1068. 



COMPARATIVE JUDGING. 



The score card is primarily for the use of the beginner or amateur. 

 It is to be used in learning the details of comparative judging which is 

 used exclusively in placing the awards at public beef-cattle shows. 

 To become expert at comparative judging requires considerable 

 practice. Patience and an observing nature will aid in obtaining 

 efficiency in picking out the leading individuals and placing them in 

 their order of excellence. Practice at first may be confined to select- 

 ing the best individual in a class of cattle of the same age and class. 

 As more proficiency is obtained animals of different ages may be used, 

 but the sexes should be kept separate. It is not practicable to try 

 to select the best individual in a mixed class of males and females, 

 but efforts should be confined to picking out the best female and also 

 the best male. Except for practice purposes it is also inadvisable to 

 judge individuals of different breeds as a class, because it results in 

 prejudices and disagreements as to the merits and usefulness of the 

 different breeds. In the judging of fat cattle the statement above will 

 not apply, because the breed standards have been replaced by the 

 standard for fat cattle, which therefore are strictly comparable. 



In comparative judging one must examine the various parts and 

 make direct comparison, keeping in mind the parts which are rela- 

 tively the most important. For instance, it would be folly to place 

 a fat animal having short, straight legs first if a second animal were 

 only slightly poorer in that respect but much better in the region of 

 the back or loin. The back or loin is a part having decidedly more 

 value than the legs. The judge must constantly weigh the merits of 

 the corresponding parts and summarize the total of the qualifications 

 of each animal. He must keep a mental impression of the score card 

 or similar scale of points and base his final decision upon his most 

 careful judgment as to the relative merits of the animals for the pur- 

 pose designated. 



Beginners in comparative judging have a tendency to follow the 

 score card in all its details. The score card is used for this specific 

 purpose, but is intended mainly to familiarize the students with the 

 detailed parts and to teach the relative importance of each. Its use 

 is a step toward the more difficult task of comparative judging. In 

 comparative judging one must take a broader view of the different 

 parts than in score-card judging. The detailed parts of the head may 

 be taken as a unit. The same is more or less true of the fore quarters, 

 the body, and the hind quarters. Only in a close competition does 

 the judge need to compare the smallest details, but in many judging 

 contests it becomes necessary. Often in such contests the judge must 

 make his final decision upon such relatively fine points as quality or 

 condition of the animals. 



In judging breeding classes of graded herds, " produce" of dam or 

 "get" of sire, the judge is confronted with a very difficult task. It is 



