Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1875-12-02
STOCK RAISIN G.
VALUE oE sHoRT-HoRT BULLS.

LOAuCI
4 Shorthorn bull that would be worth
$4,000 in the hands Of certain men, for
other men to keep would not be worth
81 1000, and still for other men would be dear
even 1T 500. 1t depend, upon how you
can use him. Suppose a bull Of the purest
pedigree has the size, form and quality, and
all the elements to make up a perfect bull
individually, and still he has the capacity to
transnitto all his get with nearly unfailing
certainty, all his good qualities, and that his
owner has Il large lot of COWS, as many as
he can serve successfully every year, say
s%cyenty-tlve or one hundred head. nearly or
quite equal in quality to the bull, and that
he is breeding expressly to produce superior
animals to sell to other men: such a bull is
worth to that man the extreme price above
named Lis intrinsic value is equal to it.
But the same bull with all his capacity for
producing superior stock, if Imited to forty
or fifty COWS, and the produce to be pre-
pared for and sold to the butcher at three or
four years old, might not earn for his owner
in q short lifetime more than the second
price named, over and above interest and
the expense Of keeping. Again, if the same
bull could have access to only a small mum
Der Of COWS annually. and the calves of his
get were all sold for veal, he would earn no
than a low grade Or mean scrub. 1t
would not be his fault. His intrinsic value
would be the same. His eXchangeable
value depends upon how he can be made
available.
Agood Shorthorn bull, descended from
pure ancestors, both male and female, that
were themselves good, may be depended
upon for producing good calves, even from
inferior COWS. On an average it would be
safe to say that his calves would at one year
old sell to the intelligent grazier at $40 more
than those sired by an ordinary low grade !;
at two years old at $50 more, and at three
years old to the butcher or shipper for $40
or $50 more. 1t would be safe to say that
calves from such a bull, bred and kept by
the Wel-tO-do farmer, until three years old,
would each net him at least $25 more than
those sired by such bulls as generally run
the public highways, and to be found on
many good farms.
@ "A Cd1CsldllOu WOllu ILLUSTRATE MlliU
e Shorthorn bull would be worth. From
the time he is one year old until he is two
he ould sire twenty-five calves, from two
years old until three fifty calves, and after
that until ten years old seventy-five a year.
Suppose then a farmer having as many COWS
as one bull could serve should buy a first
class Shorthorn bull Of good pedigree, one
year old, and should keep him three years,
he would then have one hundred and fifty
calves, that would be worth, when disposed
OF, $500, as a profit for the services Of the
bul. The bull earned it. The farmer
Wouldnot have had it but for the use of the
thoroughbred bull.
While l am free to acknowledge that an
ordinary small farmer with only four or five
common COWS cannot afford to pay for his
own use 5000 for a bull, | wish to insist that
while there is a lack of at least 5000 thor
supplied, and at least $4,000 farmers in oul
State organized in oranges for the purpose
of Incorporation and mutual assistance in al
things that pertains to their interests, nc
good thoroughbred Shorthorn bull should
sell in the State at public auction for less
than $500. Though the assertion may no
be believed by some Of my hearers, yet de
clare he is worth the money, and would carr
the amount in II season if properly used
SIMPLY in the production Of steers alone
When we consider that there are probably
not less than $4,000 COWS in Indiana tina
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