Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1876-04-27
STOCK RAISING.
THE sHoRTHoRN QUESTION.

of the subject will deny that the s%horthorn
is the source from which the best quality
and greatest quantity of beef can be obtain
ed in the shortest time, But there are a
great many who cannot see why one strain
of shorthorn cattle should be worth ten
times more than another strain for the pro-
duction of food. The only practical use to
which an animal bred as the shorthorn is
can be put is to supply the butchers block
with roasts and steaks. The principal fact
kept in view by the breeder is to produce
flesh at the expense of bone and muscle.
The shorthorn is not a thing OF yesterday.
In all the years of it's history, and with the
rivalry existing between breeders, different
strains have risen into prominence. Those
fashionable in one period have been neglect
ed in other periods. In all the leading essen
tails the shorthorn, no matter what the line,
is the same. Its beef-producing capacity is
not violently changedby tickle fancy. When
one strain grows so scarce through neglect
or being out of the mode as to become DEAR
it is not to be presumed that those strains
kept in favor until multiplicity made them
common nave lost their beef-prodtning ca
racity through a change, q mere whim Of
fashion. Were the Princesses, WHICH were
in high favor when first brought to,America,
any the less valuable for practicak purposes
when they ceased to be quoted at fancy
prices? And were the. booths less able to
contribute to the food supply when they
were out of the fashion. than now when they
cvn ,Scsprr ~, f1,a foc1fpn a Vn1rr crraotncf
stickler for paper-bred animals will scarcely
be rash enough to take the affirmative side
of either of these questions. These fuctu-
atoms in value are brought about through
the manipulations and combinations of spec
llators. The merchant tailors who supply
fashionable mankind with clothing change
the cut of coats and pants at least twice a
year in order that they may increase their
sales. The man who adopts a particular
cut and clings to it Though all changes, is
more comfortable than the Que who is the
slave of inconstant style besides, he is able
to get ont of his coat all the wear there is
III 1t, and has the satisfaction of seeing the
fashion come back to him every five or six
years. We contend that for all practical
purposes one shorthorn strain is not worth
ten or twenty times more than another. We
haze done nothing more than set our faces
against the madness of the hour which in
sists in exalting one line at the expense of
others more vigorous because less %incestu-
ously Bred. "a
Judge Jones, who has closely studied the
shorthOrn question, and who is a man of
clear understanding, has not been much be-
hind us in making war upon the spectators.
HWe suppose he writes, $ that very few
of the breeders of shorthorn cattle who are
the advocates Of the theory that EXCELLENCE
is confined to particular Zines andgcan never
be found in what they are pleased to call
miscellaneous bred animals, are aware Of
the immense mischief they are, doing in
diminishing the number of shprthorn breed
ing stock throughout the country. If this
were done by wedding. out inferior stock,
the injury would not be sogreat. But every
Intelligent breeders of stock knows that the
doctrine does not operate in this way !; that,
as a matter Of fact, the best cattle, in breed
ing qualities as well as individual excellence,
are discarded, if of questionable pedigree,
while very inferior ones are used, because
they, are IN the line" Again !: (" Should this
disparagement of the ',mfashionable pedi-
grees' result in driving them out of the
shorthorn market, the injury to the public
win exceed all computation. One-half, at
least, and probably a larger proportion, of
onr shorthorns, that, in useful qualities, are
FULLY up to the average OF the race, would
ae discredited, neglected, and. finally lost as