Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-08-13
The Importance of Good Breeds
Philadelphia Record.


1t may be safely claimed that good
animal requires no more room in the
stable than will one that is inferior, and
therefore saving of labor is effected in
lessening the cost of care and attention,
it being as easy to manage the superior
animal as it is to give the labor to the
other. But the saving in shelter, room
and labor is not the only item. As only
the most approved machinery is used by
manufacturers in order to enable them
to produce goods at the lowest cost and
complete in markets with each other, so
should the farmer take advantage of his
opportunities with pure-bred stock and
lessen the cost by increasing the amount
of product.
As the manufacturer can adopt the
kind of machine most suitable, so may
the farmer select the kind of stock for
his special purpose. While on many
farms no regard is given the breeding or
characteristic of the animal used, yet the
farmer has it in his power to use cattle
that excel in butter, beef or milk, and as
some breeds combine several good quail
ties, his advantages are not limited.
There is no necessity for devoting a stall
to a cow that yields only ten quarts of
milk per day when, by iudicious breeding,
the product may be doubled. We can
point to special cows that have yielded
over forty quarts of milk per day, and
cows are nemerous that produce over
twenty pounds of butter per week. Steers
have been known to gain three pounds
weight daily, rams have sheared over
thirty pounds of wool, and mutton sheep
have attained 400 pounds live weight in
two,years, whilesthe hog seems. tic, have an
easy time gaming pound daily for
twelve months.
1t is not supposed that every farmer
will be so fortunate as to possess ami
mails of extraordinary merit, but as long
as such excellence exists the farmer
should be encouraged to strive always
for something better. There must either
be an improvement or retrogressiOn.
The farmer who does not have some OBJ
ject in view will sooner or later be com
PEELED to dispose of his stock as unprofit-
able, as the difference between profit and
loss is in the animals and their manage
ment.
The cost of improvement is, fortunate
iy, but a small sum compared with the
benefits derived, as nature has endowed
the males with the capacity of begetting
large progeny. And as experiments
have demonstrated that the characters
tics of a breed may be transmitted
through the male line it becomes but a
matter of a few seasons when an entire
herd or flock may be changed. If one
will but calculate the additional value i'm
parted 10 the stock by only a single cross
it will readily be perceived that the ser
vices performed by the male more than
balances his cost the first season, and as
he may be useful for several years it is
not only costless and economical to i'm
prove, but very profitable, as stock that
formerly did not repay their cost may
by change to grades; add so largely to
milk, beef or butter as to make it an OBJ
ject to still further improve. The per
formances of celebrated animals show
what can be done, and every farmer
should aim to improve his stock to what
ever point others have reached.