TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 3, 
820 
BREEDERS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS 
Buying Purebred Stock. 
“Do you find that most people who 
write for prices on animals have fully 
decided what breed they want?” Yes, I 
am inclined to think that most people 
have made their choice as to the breed 
they prefer. “What proportion of them 
have any idea of breeding 'or the indivi¬ 
dual worth of an animal?” My experi¬ 
ence would tend to show that very few 
beginners have rnfich of an idea of the 
value of a high-bred registered animal of 
good individuality. Or in other words, 
they do not think there is so much dif¬ 
ference between such animals and com¬ 
mon stock as there is. Or, put it in an¬ 
other way, they do not know what it costs 
to produce high-class registered cattle, 
and seem to expect to buy them at con¬ 
siderably less than they are actually sell¬ 
ing for. 
“Are they willing to leave that to the 
breeder?” 
In some cases. I believe that a begin¬ 
ner who does not know the value of what 
he is buying will usually come out better 
to leave that to a breeder of good repu¬ 
tation than to attempt to use his own 
judgment. 
“With a fair idea of the class of cows 
a man is carrying and a knowledge of 
his condition can you fit him out with a 
hull or a pair of cattle?” Yes. 
“Under what circumstances would you 
advise such a farmer not to invest in your 
breed ?” 
I always advise a poor caretaker or 
poor feeder not to invest in any high- 
class stock, and if I knew a breeder to 
be a poor caretaker, I would not care to 
sell him at all. Registered cattle need no 
more care than many first-class dairy¬ 
men give their herds, but there is a class 
of people who seem to think that if they 
buy a registered animal it should pro¬ 
duce well without care. Or, in other 
words, there is a class of people who are 
poor caretakers of all kinds of live stock. 
Such people I would advise not to in¬ 
vest in good stock of any breed. 
1\ A. MITCHELL. 
A Good Cow Costs Money. 
“What kind of stock (cow) would you 
advise a beginner to buy?” I would say 
none until he knows his own ideas. If 
he wants rich milk and butter let him get 
a good Jersey or Guernsey grade, or buy 
a registered heifer calf from an ancestry 
that not only has the dairy qualities, but 
medium-sized teats well placed on a well- 
shaped udder. If he wants size let him 
get a grade Short-horn from a milking 
strain, or if quantity is what he desires 
get a Holstein from a butter family, for 
there are some high testing (for Hol- 
steins) strains. But, he must not expect 
first-class Jerseys giving upwards of four 
gallons a day for $.50. t Any reputable 
breeder having sound cows under six 
years old, showing quality and milking 
over 36 pounds a day, can get $100 by 
making it public. 1 know that good Jer¬ 
sey or Guernsey grade cows are scarce, 
and often have inquiries from people who 
want such for family cows, and are will¬ 
ing to pay good prices for good ones. 
Last Winter 1 bought three cows, and 
before I got them home a friend asked me 
to get him one, and was glad to take her 
at about $125, hut she was a fine one, reg¬ 
istered, young and sound, and four gal¬ 
lons a day. And again I say: “If a man 
does not know what he wants,” it is no 
use to a a breeder to answer his ques¬ 
tions; it is simply valuable time wasted. 
R. F. SHANNON. 
Buyers Not Well Posted. 
Your questions are knotty ones for me 
to answer, -and after having had an ex¬ 
perience of over 40 years of extended 
correspondence with people all over the 
United States, T will have to admit that 
many who write me in regard to pur¬ 
chasing purebred stock, have very little 
idea of what they really want, though 
there are exceptions to this rule. If a 
man states age, sex, breed, quality, num¬ 
ber, etc., of animals he wants, I can an¬ 
swer the letter understandingly, and it 
saves an immense amount of time and 
extra writing. Rut the average letter is 
such that I have almost no idea what the 
inquirer wants, and in nine cases out of 
ten, when I write him for particulars, 
I receive no answer. One of the greatest 
disadvantages in our business is that buy¬ 
ers do not give stock proper attention 
after its arrival, and then condemn the 
breeder, when the fault is entirely his 
own. If a man writes me for a breed of 
cattle for producing beef, I write him I 
am not breeding the Aberdeen or Here¬ 
ford cattle, or Short-horns, and that the 
Jerseys are the milk and butter producers 
of the world, consequently are not a beef- 
producing breed. We have now at the 
nead of our herd Brown Bessie’s Eureka 
62607 and Blue Belle’s Grey Prince 67287, 
that are not at all related to each other, 
and our breeding cows are of different 
strains, so that we have n<>t a hit of trou¬ 
ble in mating up bulls not akin to heifers. 
EDWARD WALTER. 
In my opinion all of the people who ( 
write to me for prices on Holstein stock- 
have fully decided that they will buy 
stock of this breed Of course I am not 
in a position to know their education with 
regard to breeding, but most of my cor¬ 
respondents are progressive farmers who 
seem to have a knowledge of the best 
families of the Holstein breed. The cor¬ 
respondent settles for himself what kind 
of a hull he will require, and will suit 
the breeding of the bull to his require¬ 
ments and to his pocketbook. I would 
not advise any farmer not to invest in 
Holstein cattle. If he has but one or two 
purebred cows as a starter he is all right, 
and can increase his herd as his means 
multiply. w. w. cheney. 
The majority of inquirers have deter¬ 
mined what breed they want, and of 
course go to the breeder of that strain 
which they have determined to try. As 
to what proportion of them have an idea 
of breeding, it would be a little hard to 
estimate, byit I should say conservatively, 
not more than half of the inquirers, and 
at least one-half of my customers depend 
upon me entirely to keep them straight as 
to blood lines, which emphasizes the im¬ 
portance of the breeder being strictly 
honest and conscientious in his business. 
As to the individual worth of the animal, 
1 should say that fully 75 per cent of my 
customers are good judges of the dairy 
cow, and readily appreciate the good 
points of a cow. As a rule these men 
would not leave that question entirely to 
the breeder, but would use their eyes and 
hands, and would pass upon the general 
conformation and the handling qualities 
of the cow. At the same time, even these 
men will almost invariably inquire of the 
breeder his opinion as to the individual 
worth of the animal, and if the breeder’s 
opinion varies from that of the buyer, he 
can in the majority of cases have his say. 
For instance, suppose that an inquirer has 
come to the conclusion that a particular 
cow is not a good proposition ; yet, if the 
breeder assures him to the contrary, he 
will almost invariably accept this as a 
fact established and buy the cow. The 
next question propounded is, “With a fair 
idea of the class of cows a man is carry¬ 
ing, and a knowledge of his conditions, 
can you fit him out with a bull or better 
cattle?” I assume that this inquiry re¬ 
lates more particularly to mail-order, cus¬ 
tomers. Unfortunately, inquirers are not 
always lucid, or even explicit. They 
write in a vague, indefinite way. In all 
such cases before I assume to price the 
stock, much less fill an order, I write my 
customer, asking him certain specific 
questions, and getting his answer thereto. 
After doing this, I hardly ever fail to 
please my customer, and send him stock 
that will fully meet his requirements. 
1 sell thousands of dollars worth of reg¬ 
istered Ho.lsteins by mail each year, and 
1 should say that I do not have more than 
one or two cases in the entire season 
where I fail to fit out the customer with 
animals that give complete satisfaction. 
You ask me under what conditions 1 
would advise a farmer not to invest in 
my breed of cows, namely, registered 11o 1 - 
steins. A frank answer is not calculated 
perhaps to extend my trade, hut I am 
willing to say publicly what I am preach¬ 
ing in private, and that is: no farmer 
should invest in registered Holsteins un¬ 
til he is a good caretaker himself, or 
willing to provide a good one for the 
stock. lie should also be ready to pro¬ 
vide them with suitable stables, protect¬ 
ing them from storms in Winter and from 
heat in Summer. Lest T should he mis¬ 
understood upon this point, I would say 
that registered stock do not require any 
more or better attention than scrubs or 
so-called grades, hut to get the best re¬ 
sults of dairy cattle, they should be well 
cared for, that is, they should be fed a 
generous ration, sufficient to meet their 
requirements. For instance, a cow pro¬ 
ducing a pound of butter fat per day 
should have at least eight pounds of feed, 
and the ration should be fairly balanced. 
In addition to this, the cow should have 
all the roughage, for instance, cornstalks, 
hay, silage, etc., required. The cow should 
be milked regularly, and milked clean. 
The hours of feeding should be fixed, and 
adhered to. The cow should not be ex¬ 
posed to storms or inclement weather. 
On the other hand, in bright clear days 
in Winter, she should have at least a 
half hour’s exercise in the sunshine each 
day, and the stable should be well'venti¬ 
lated and well lighted. If any dairyman 
is not'willing to do this, if he insists upon 
keeping his dairy cows in close, dark, ill- 
ventilated pens, if he insists upon starv¬ 
ing the cows, and keeping them poor; if 
he insists upon employing drunken, in¬ 
competent men: in other words, if he is 
a man that would abuse an animal ip any 
way, he would better confine his efforts 
to the cheapest scrubs in the market, as 
they are better than he deserves. 
HORACE I.. BRONSON. 
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