Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-02-27
improved stock the Cbeape.,.

Although the original expense incurred by
the purchase of thoroughbreds may be great
er than the cost of unimproved stock yet in
the end an investment for thoroughbreds is
the best, as the actual difference in value be-
tween good and inferior stock is much great
er than at first appears A herd of cattle,
whether Of thoroughbreds or grades il bred
for beef, will show the value of the breed,
not only in the weight of carcasses in pro-
portion to age but also in the cost of produc-
ton. Oar thoroughbreds are not bred for
size exclusively, nor even for ability to digest
and convert the smallest proportion of food
into the largest quantity of beef but they
also possess prominence in certain charac-
terstcs equally as desirable. In our beef
cattle the breeders have developed the most
available and choicest portions of meat
where it is most desired. The hind quarters
and loins are heavily developed, the head is
smaller, the bones finer and the quality of
the flesh increased, and in thus producing
large carcssses at small cost the value of the
animals is enhanced by being bred to that
degree of perfection which enables the far
mer or breeder to realize the best prices OBJ
tainable.
In our dairy COWS we find the improved
animals the cheapest A COW yielding forty
pounds of milk day will soon pay much
more than the amount expended for the i'm
provement of an entire herd compared with
that usually derived from one not well bred.
The difference of only one pound Of butter
a week in the product of one COW will pay
the purchase money of a Jersey bull during
the term Of her life, and when we consider
that single bull in the period of five years
may change the characteristics of all the
COWS in neighborhood the attempt to esti-
mate his value is not within the range of DOS
sibility. Individual animals sometimes in.
crease the value of the stock of whole ma.
ton. Messenger, the founder of our trot-
ting strain of horses, though not valued during
his lifetime as costly animal, increased the
value OF our horses many millions Of dollars.
The Booth and Bates families Of Shorthorns
also produce noted individuals of extraordin.
airy merit, while even in so small an animal
as the shsep we have instances of great i'm
proyement through the influence of a single
male, as is remembered in the case of the
Oxford-down ram Freeland, which received
the sweepstake prize at the Centennial. The
descendants of this ram sell for hundreds of
dollars each, and are greatly in demand
An old boar, that was not highly valued,
founded the famous Chester white breed of
swine, and the selection of a few fine. boned
Nespolitan hogs for crossing gave US the eel
ebrated Essexs, which are the great rivals Of
the Berkshires. The orignators of the
prominent families of stock found it very
profitable to improve with every opportunity,
and the result was that with every improve
ment the value of the stock was increased,
while the cost of production was lessened.
1t does not pay to keep inferior stock il bet
ter can be procured, as the conditions for
keeping the improved animals are the same
as those for the other kinds. With good
quarters, liberal feeding and care in manage.
ment for stock of all kinds, improved or in
ferior, with the same labor, greater returns
and larger profit, at less cost, will result from
improvement, while the capital invested for
the improvement will be but a small sun
compared with the benefits derived -PAila
deLphid Record.