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Vol. XL VI. No. 1964. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 17, 1887. 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, hy the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
&l )t ijcrfenmn. 
PURE-BRED, GRADE AND COMMON 
CATTLE. 
PROFESSOR G. E. MORROW. 
Exceptions to all rules in stock-breeding ; 
blooded beasts best; grading up; effects of 
early crosses greatest; crossing of similar 
breeds; out-crossing; this a fine time to 
grade up or lay the foundat ion of a pure¬ 
bred herd; Ayrshire steer , Stewart. 
In the practice of stock-breeding, as well 
as in all discussions on the subject, it is impor¬ 
tant to keep in miud that all rules regarding 
it have exceptions; 
that it is safer to say 
that a given result 
may happen, than 
that it let'//; that we 
cannot always ex¬ 
press results in fig¬ 
ures absolutely cor¬ 
rect. Thus we say 
tho progeny of a bull 
of one breed and a 
cow of another, is 
half-and-half of each. 
Usually this reason¬ 
ably closely ex¬ 
presses the truth; 
but occasional^ an 
animal so bred 
shows no sign of 
possessing any dis¬ 
tinctive quality of 
one of the breeds. A 
red Short-horn cow 
belonging to the 
University of Uliuois 
was, by accident, 
served by a Holstein 
bull. The calf might 
well be shown as a 
pure Holstein, so far 
as color is concerned. 
Only a day or two 
ago I looked at a 
herd in which were 
grade J ersey s 
showing scarcely a 
mark of that breed. 
One of the best 
formed cow's, from a 
Short-horn type, 
ever in our Uni¬ 
versity herd, was the 
product of two 
crosses by pure-bred 
bulls on common, or 
native stock 
Keeping the above 
in miud as to the 
possibilities, we may 
safely rely, in practice, on the rule that, cattle 
will possess the characteristics of auy breed iu 
direct proportion to the percentage of the blood 
of that breed which they possess. Asa rule, 
cattle of tho “improved breeds” are better for 
the purposes for which cuttle are kept by 
farmers in general, than are the “com¬ 
mon ” or “ unimproved ” cattle of any 
State; certainty better than our “scrubs.” 
Hence, both theoretically and practically, I 
prefer high-grade animals to those with a 
small percentage of the blood of one of the im¬ 
proved breeds. 1 see uo reason to modify my 
long-time belief that the cheapest, safest and 
best method by which the average farmer 
can improve his cattle, is by usiug well-bred 
bulls of the breed believed to be the best 
adapted to his circumstances, and keeping 
this up year after year. Bo far as purely 
practical purposes are concerned, such a 
course will, >t iu a few years, give auimals 
nearly or quite equal to those with long pedi¬ 
grees I have great faith in the power of 
heavy majorities, and confidently expect the 
15-16 or 31-32 of one class of blood to over¬ 
power the small part of the other. So fully 
do I expect this, that I would be willing to 
admit to registry as pure-bred, any animal 
with five crosses or 31-32 parts of the blood of 
one breed, and in many cases it would be 
quite safe to so do with only four crosses. 
In my experience and observation the ef¬ 
fects of the improvement made by the first two 
crosses of improved blood is much more ap¬ 
parent than that made subsequently— because 
there is more room for improvement; so that, 
w'hile some preference would be given to 
higher grades, I would make but little choice 
between J|“three-quarter” steers and those 
more nearly pure-bred. When animals of 
two breeds with somewhat similar qualities 
are bred together excellent progeny are often 
produced. Probably the very best steer ever 
fed ou the University farm was sired by a 
Hereford bull, the dam being a high-grade 
Short-horn cow. In the lot of steers fed by us 
in 1886 , a pair of half Holsteins were pretty 
certainly better because of some Short-horu 
blood in the dams as were the grade Hereford 
steers. This does not prove that the Short¬ 
horns are better than the Herefords or Hol- 
steins; but they are certainly better than 
“scrubs.” So far as the production of beef is 
eoueerued, a Hereford-Short-horu cross is not 
a violent one; nor is a Holsteiu-Short-horu 
cross a violent one for milk production if care 
be taken iu the selection. In a herd of grade 
Jersey cows, a Guernsey cross might give ad¬ 
mirable results. 
Out-crosses without care or any defluite 
purpose are usually unwise, but often an out- 
cross of either a different family or type with¬ 
in the same breed or even of another breed is 
the most ready means of giving increased 
vigor of constitution or more size. So long as 
the use of sires of one family or breed gj ves 
good results I shoukteontinue such use; when¬ 
ever improvement 'ceases or deterioration 
begins, the choice of another family or breed 
may be indicated. Close in-breeding for nu¬ 
merous generations is not to be advised for’ 
farmers generally. 
The lower prices at which good bulls of 
almost any breed can be purchased now leave 
little excuse for the use of “scrub” or even 
grade bulls in most parts of the country. A 
high-grade bull may give as good results as a 
pure-bred one, but there are more chances 
against this result. So, too, when a pure-bred 
bull has beeu purchased, the exceptionally 
low prices at which pure-bred cows or heifers 
can be bought, makes this time of depression 
au unusually good one in which to get the 
foundation of a pure-bred hard. The rapidity 
of increase is often remarkable. A Short- 
horu cow belonging to our herd gave us her 
first heifer calf in 1881. This season we had 
seven cows and heifers of the family in calf, 
and have sold bull calves euough to pay for 
keeping t he whole lot. 
I do uot advise farmers of moderate means 
to pay very high prices nor to buy large 
numbers of improved cattle, but the cases are 
very rare in which either the steer reiser 
or the dairy farmer will do wisely if he faii 
to use a pure-bred bull. If he had a lot of 
even half-blood cows, be will usually be wiser 
to keep them than to sell them and buy a herd 
of pure-bloods or high-grades. He may wisely 
make a start in breeding pure-bred cattle of 
the breed of his choice. 
At Fig. 340 is shown one of the steers exhib¬ 
ited by the University of Illinois at the last 
Fat Stock Show. This animal “Stewart,” a 
pure bred Ayrshire, was calved Feb. 20,1884, 
and weighed 1.540 pounds Nov. 1, 1886, at 32 
months eight days, a gain of 460 pounds in 
the last year. This steer had a fairly good 
form, inclining to “paunchiness,” but proved 
an uneven feeder; at times laying on flesh 
rapidly; again making little gain. 
The cattle exhibited by the University were 
good rather than extraordinary specimens. 
At the show they were good average speci¬ 
mens. Neither in weight nor remarkable fat¬ 
ness did they equal some of the animals 
shown, but they were far above the average 
of fat cattle general¬ 
ly. They had been 
full fed grain for 
nearly two years, 
running on pasture 
in the summer, sta¬ 
bled in winter. The 
chief grain feed was 
corn—sometimes in 
the ear; sometimes 
shelled, sometimes 
ground. Oats, whole 
or ground, were fed 
to some extent, as 
was oil-meal to a very 
slight extent—not at 
all for the last six 
months. 
University of Illi¬ 
nois, Champaign, III. 
FEEDING SUB¬ 
STANCES AND 
FEEDING RA¬ 
TIONS.—NO. IV. 
HENRY STEWART. 
Wholesomeness of 
food more import¬ 
ant than its compo¬ 
sition; excessive 
fat a disease; fat 
is stored nutri¬ 
ment; fat in a in¬ 
itials derived from 
fat in foals; fatty 
foods, therefore, 
best for fat-pro¬ 
duction; waste in 
converting albu¬ 
minoids into fat; 
conclusions. 
The science of feed¬ 
ing consists in the 
most important part 
in healthful feeding. 
The mere composi¬ 
tion only of the feed¬ 
ing substances used 
is to be made a 
secondary element, 
| subsidary to their digestibility and healthful 
effects upon the system. For instance, 
among the various rich foods known 
as oil meals, as palm-nut meal, cotton-seed 
and linseed meal and peauut meal and others, 
there is one equally rich in all the food ele¬ 
ments—albuminoids, carbohydrates aud 
fat—but totally useless because of its iuj urious 
qualities; this is castor-oil meal. Tae well- 
knowu acrid and purgative character of this 
seed renders it wholly unfit for food, and, al¬ 
though this is an exceedingly exceptional aud 
conspicuous instance, yet it affords a very 
dear example of the rule which governs the 
use of feeding substances. 
Excessive fat is a disease, aud auimals die 
of it when it invades the more important or¬ 
gans—as the heart, kidneys, etc. As long as 
the fat is deposited in the muscular tissues 
aud not excessively arouud the kidneys and 
the intestines, so as to interfere with the vital 
AYRSHIRE STEER. 
Fig. 
340. 
