Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-09-06
Dailv Amnttet Soutnal.
KEEP THE BEST STOCK.

farmers often allow their stock to be-
come run down by not using good Judg-
ment Ia disposing of them. They too OF
ten make the mistake of selling Their pes.
calves. d practice which the Agricuiturist
counsels them against, it says;
:. Area1lv choice COW will readily oflnS
$50 10 a1O0 "a COW that will make one
pound Of bitter per day during SIX months,
and half q pound per day during two
~. thrnf,e months more. is cheaper at 500
than = sow that will do half as much,
wopld be 1t $50. Poor COWS are more
plentiful than good ones, and where little
or no attention is given to improving the
stock, good cows are fast becoming
scarcer., If one wants to find good cows,
he has to follow the track of drover, who
is constantly raking over the country
places to supply the demand OF the large
towns and great cities. Thus the farming
localities are being constantly depleted.
But this would be of no damage, IL the
supply was kept up, and this constant
DRAFT replaced with young stock. Here
lies the trouble Not only are cows in
demand, but calves are equally sought
after. The. farmer is constantly tempted
y9drovers and butchers, from far and
near, to dispose OF his calves. The ma
jority of them cannot withstand the fiutter
Of a sgreenback ornanlented with q large
x. The choicest calves are, of course,
selected, and these are generally from the
best cow Ten dollars is thought to be
good price for calf four weeks old,
andspays better than fifteen dollars for a
year Old animal. So would five dollars n
bushel be a high price for potato sets; but
fewfarmers would be tempted to tear them
out of newly planted hills for that money.
But does he not sell the seed of valua-
blecrop when he parts with his best calves
Many men say il costs more to raise COW
than to buy one. This is palpably wrong,
as will be seen if they sit down and figure
it out. But if it were true now, it could
not long remain so; for cows must be
raised and those who raise them must be
paid profitably, or they will not do it. We
confess that there is some ground for the
idea that it does not pay to raise cows,
wrong as 1t may be, and it lies just here :
the poorest calves are selected for rearing !;
and as it costs as much, and sometimes
more, to feed poor calf from poor COW,
until maturity, when it probably is worth
twenty-five to thirty dollars only, as it
does to feed good calf, that would make
a COW worth double that money at two
years old. There is actually a loss in the
operation, and the farmer is out of pocket,
not only Indirectly, but directly, in having
spent more than he can get back again.
A merchant doing business thus, would
soon find work for an assignee or the bank
rupt Court; but such are the advantages
of the farmers occupation, that he is able
to live, and often do well, in spite of his
unhusiness-like methods. Let him make
farming business let him calculate and
figure out results as other men are obliged
to do, aud it will be found that there is no
operation on the farm but pays fair inter-
est over and above good remuneration
for labor and attention, if such labor and
attention are only well directed; and
most surely will he find that there is more
money in a good heifer~ calf. than any
butcher could afford to give him, il he
will only give the animal time to show it..
So with abun caIf il one is to be raised,
select the best. 1t is by a course of Sc
lection that the present races of blooded
stock have been built up, as it is by q con-
trary course that the native stock has been
run down. Our "nativen stock has sprung
from good sources, and IL the best calves
are retained on the farm there will soon
be better supply Of good COWS.