Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-10-12
Fancy Prices of Breeders.

What are high prices for breeding
animals? The question Is one which
will bear some consideration, since a
misunderstanding of this point may,
and certainly has, cost many a man
much money, care and labor. There
were to-day hundreds Of cattle in the
market for which three cents per
pound on foot was the best price which
could be coaxed from the buyers, and
the stock was dear at that figure.
There were at the same time sales of
cattle at six and one-half cents; and
there was less difficulty in getting the
last mentioned figure than in securing
the lower price for the inferior stock.
Yet it is safe to assert, that up to
the time the cattle were placed
in the market there was not near
fifty per cent. difference between
the cost of the two classes of stock.
The scrubs had eaten more than one
half as much as had the well-kred ones /;
they had required as many months of
shelter and labor; they had occupied as
many sheds or stalls, or as much space
at the feed trough, and they had had
the interest of the capital invested in
them at least as long as had the better
bred animals. The cost of marketing
the scrubs exceeded that of selling the
better stock, for the commission, feed
bills and yard charges were based
upon the number sold, and not upon
the sum received by the consignor--ln
short, all the expenses attending the
mark citing Of scrub worth $50 are,
excepting the single item of freight, as
great AS those necessary to the market.
ing OF bullock worth 1925; and even
in the matter of freight the difference
in cost is but slight.
We cannot honestly claim that all
this difference is due to difference in
the breeding Of the stock, for there car
be no dubt that much has come from
the different treatment given by those
who owned them, but it would probably
be true in this as in most other cases
that "the bull was half the herd" The
fact is too generally admitted to neeC
reassertion here, that the cattle got by
pure-bred sire, Of one Of the approx
ed beef breeds, will make more anC
better beef in two years than the scrut
native will make in four years, with
like care and fully double the quantity
of food.
In the production of milk the intlu
ence of good blood is even more neces
sary than in growing beeves, for poo
milk producer is a constant drain upo.
the purse of her owner. A COW which
will yield two hundi ed pounds o
butter per year is worth more thar
| twice as much each year as the one
which can give but half the quantity
siuce the cost of feeding good COW Ii
no more than of feeding an infe RIO
scrub The scrub viii require rs muct
space, care, food and labor, as will The
best COW in the herd.
The calf of pure-bred animal vii
| bring as much money as can be go
tor four or five calves from scrubs. /
we multiply this difference in value o
individuals by the number of progeny
| they may reasonably be expected Il
produce, and in the case of cows b,
the number of years they will prob
ably be in service, we will arrive a
something near their real value; an'
this will be found not to exceed wha
are termed fancy prices" The in
tluence of good blood, under prope
management, grows and spreads $,
rapidly and widely that its value i
almost incalculable. Breeders Gazette