Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-07-05
IMPROVEMENT IN CATTLE
Producing Grades Valuable for lLIlk-Pro
ducIng or Beef-Ma1inG.


duclng or Bee6-Makin9.
Superintendent o. c. Gregg, Of the
Minnesota Farmers Institute lecture
corps, has the following to say on the
subject of cattle:
1. BY supplying food, water and
shelter we forbid loss from hunger,
thirst and extremes from heat and cold.
2. After so preserving the forces of
the animal, the form is changed by
feeding and breeding so that the forces
so preserved are utilized to the best
advantage, either in making beef or
milk. Nature makes these two FORMS
They are the same in all breeds. They
are called the "beef form" on the one
hand and the dairy form" on the other.
Any breed of cattle that is not estab-
lished upon this higher law of form is
valueless. Breeds are made by men,
and may be of little or no value. but
beef form is always valuable to the
beef maker, and the dairy form is of
great value to the dairyman.
8. Continuous breeding in dairy and
beef lines finally give a prepotency
that enables the animal to transmit its
form, either beef or dairy" to its
progeny.
All breeders have regarded this first
part an improvement, but not all of
them have so regarded the second part.
and. so have made the power of the
third part a curse to the farmer.
The value of a full-blooded animal is,
first, its form, and second. its power to
transmit the form. A bad form is bet
ter not transmitted.
Unimproved native cattle, as out
lined by part first, have a development
that may be illustrated as follows:
They have the upper part of the body,
or butchers portion, partly developed,
and the under part of the body, or the
dairyman's portion, also partly devel-
oped.
The second stage produces a fully
developed butchers part at the ex-
pense of the dairyman's part; that is
the beef form. A beef type of animal
will not give milk as well as native.
And, on the other hand, in the second
stage of development, there is fully
developed dairyman's part at the ex-
pense of the butchers part; that is the
dairy form. A dairy form will not
produce as much beef as a native.
These two forms represent diver
gence in blood circulation. In the
beef form the blood circulates in album
dance above the central line of the
body. In the dairy form the circula-
ton, in abundance, is below that line.
The beef form represents high de-
velopment in the muscular system,
while the dairy form represents high
development of the nerve system.
These two forms antagonize at every
point. They are like opposite poles of a
battery. Full-blooded animals that are
bred at cross purposes to this law OF
dairy and beef form are animals that
are called improved, but don't improve
the native stock to an extent common
surate with their cost. They are not
worthy of the time and money spent
upon them AS farmers we are only
interested in getting the form suited to
| our purpose, bred in line to insure POI
tency.
These animals crossed upon our
natives (that have one value-viz.,
vigor, not possessed by the full-blooded
cattle) give us grades that are val
liable for beef making or milk produc-
ing. The grade is the combination of
the vigor of the native and the form of
the full blood.
Grades are better for feeding and
milking than full bloods of any breed.
Practically the work of our farmers is
to breed from good sires, giving good
care to progeny as represented by part
| -
sented in part third. Mixing blood
or breeds is an error. Breeds have
dissimilarities in blood that antagonize
each other, and so destroy prepotency.
We should choose what we want and
then breed for it in line. Failure here
will bring trouble, for unstable as
water, we will not excel. st. Paul
| Farmer.