Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1880-12-15
Breeding and Feeding of Live
stock.

The enormous and rapidly increa-
sing demand for meat. which char
terizes the food markets of these
days. has reacted in a remarkable
manner upon the nature of the ami
mails that supply it. Formerly the
animals that furnish pork, mutton,
and beef, were allowed to attain the
age oftree yeare old and upwards,
before they were considered to be
'ripe," for The butcher; but now
sheep and pigs are perfectly matur-
ed at the early age Of one year; and
twO-year old oxen furnish a large
quota of the beef in our markets, az
well as for export while alive. The
50 called improvement Of stock is
simply the forcing of them into an
unnatural degree of fairness at an
early age; and this end is attained
by dexterous selection and crossing
Of breeds, by avoidance of cold, by
diminishing as much as possible
their muscular activity, and lastly,
and chiefly, by overlooking them
with grain.
Many feeders as well as breeders
Of stock, look upon the monstrous-
ly fat bulls and COWS Of prize celeb
riiy as normal types Ofthe bovine
tribe. 1t requires but little argu-
lnent to refute so fallacious notion.
70 doubt it is desirable TO encour-
age the breeding of those varieties
OF .himals which exhibit the great
est disposition to fatten, and to ar
rive early at maturity; but the for
cling of individual animals into an
unnatural state Of obesity, except
for purely experimental purposes,is
practice which cannot be too
strongly deprecated. II breeders
themselves with handing over to
the butcher their huge living blocas
OF fat, the matter would not, per-
haps, be very serious; but unfor-
tunately 1t is too often the practice
to turn them 10 account as sires
and dams. Every such extremely
fat animal, entered for competition
amongst the breeding stock, at our
fairs, ought TO be disqualified. I'm
less parents are healthy and vigorous
their progeny are almost certain to
be unhealthy and weakly and it is
inconceiyable that an extremely
obese bull and an unnaturally fat
cow, conld be the progenitors of
healthy offspring. We should
by all means improve our live stock;
but we should be careful not to
0verdo the thing If we must
have ponderous bulls and COWS at
our fans, let us condemn to speedy
immolation these unhappy victims
to a most absurd fashion; but in
The name Of common sense, let us
leave the perpetuation Of the spe-
cies TO individuals in normal state,
whose muscles are not replaced by
Fat, and whose lungs arc capable Of
ectively performing the junction
respiration. At almost every
agricultural tair, overlooking APP
pears to be the rule alike as regards
attic, sheep, pigs. and horses. Es-
pecially the horses Of heavy breeds,
are so loaded with fat, that an ad-
vocate for the legalizing of the sale
Of horse flesh las good opportunity
for dilating on the beef-produciug
properties Of some OF our breeds Of
horses. Though the evils of these
practices are recognized by many
breeders, no plan has hitherto been
devised which can be satisfactorily
carried out at the shows. The
system thus continues, and the best
animals Of the best'herds of vari-
Gus breeds are in many cases sac
rihced to system with which many
Of the most intelligent exhibitors
and owners of stock are themselves
dissatisfied. Admitting that the
show of live stock at our fairs is a
school for educating the sgricultu-
al mind-presenting some of the
best specimens Of the respe -tlve
breeds; and showing promptly the
qualities which render such breeds
valuable-the advantages accruing
from the exhibitions are surely dear
ly bought by the sacrifice of many
Of the best animals for breeding pur-
poses, by the common system Of
over feeding or forcing.