The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-07-07
o = 6 @ Q o @ @ Q q o @ @ @ 0e0e Q
: BEST COWS. :
~ Low Yields CT Butter Are No y
y Longer Profitable. y
@ .
0 0 O 0 o o 0 0 0 0 o 0 D 0 Q @e Q

pedlgreo IN the prices charged tor pure
bred stock, especially among dairy ami
mails, says the Boston Cultivator. 1t is
duction of milk and butter the pure
bred stock is worth about all that is
charged for it by breeders. Indeed most
of them use their herds to supply milk
for neighboring cities, and they claim
that they are able to make profit from
this source, aside from the extra value
Of the stock which the pure bred ami
mails will furnish. The prices of such
stock are now much lower than they
were even few years ago, the SO called
fancy prices only going for animals of
some specially valuable breeding strain.
When prices get down so that the year
~ product Of the best stock, exclusive
Of it's increase, will leave a profit to it's
keeper, it is pretty safe to say that rock
bottom prices have at last been reached.
The business of keeping and breeding
the best stock is, for men adapted to it,
the safest of any that it is possible for
them to engage in.
This implies what is the fact--that
not every one is adapted to this bust
ness. The stock that for generations has
received extra care and feeding, and
that has been most carefully bred, can
not be treated as most farmers treat
scrub stock without speedy deteriora-
ton. Even in breeding there is an art
which many do not understand. All the
finest points of the pure bred animal
have been bred into it by judicious mat
ing, so that the peculiarities desired
will result Most successful breeders
keep several males in each herd, and it
is often most important question
which one Of these shall be used to
mate with female of the same herd.
It is not merely in color and size, but
in form, and especially in adapta bility
to securing the best form for the dairy,
that these results in the offspring are
made possible at his will to the skillful
breeder.
The man who breeds to bull that
has all the marks of beefmaking about
him merely because he is Of good
milking family is pretty sure to find his
breeding end in disappointment. The
skillful breeder is on the watch for
signs of these pure bred stock that have
bred back to some undesirable ancestry
and weeds them out of his herd as soon
as possible. If he be tricky, he may sell
such an animal at extra low price to
some man who is willing to buy it be-
cause it's pedigree is good one. Such an
animal may get some good dairy stock
But it cannot be depended on like an
animal that not only has the pedigree.
but shows also the signs that indicate
superior dairy quality.
The feeding Of cows while they are
with calf undoubtedly, other things be-
ing equal, affects the character of the
fetus, and if this food be succulent and
calculated to produce a large flow of
milk it is probable that the calf will be
predisposed to the best dairy form,
which is wedge shaped and rather an
gular than rotund. All the best dairy
breeds have been produced in moist,
mild climates and where they can have
much succulent food. The mild, moist
climate Of Holland and the islands of
Jersey and Guernsey in large degree
made it possible for skillful breeders
there to produce the excellent breeds
that those localities furnish. Our Amer
lean winters are too severe to give the
best results in breeding for milking ex-
cellence. But this is partly offset by
the great reliance of the best breeders
on such succulent food as ensilage,
which doubtless does much to keep up
the reputation of their herds for excel
lence in milking qualities.
Yet, despite the extraordinary skill
that is required to produce the very
highest results, any farmer who gives
his stock fair care and feeding and
takes pains to breed to good registered
animals is much more sure to make
money that he who continues in the old
fashioned way. The low butter yields
in many farmers herds, often not more
budu Low pOuhuS VI OQULCA pei JOoAS
leave no room for profit, no matter
what economics may be Dracticed. tits
not by greater economy, but by greatly
increasing the milk and butter product,
that dairying is to be made profitable.
The best herds yield profit already,
and they do this while involving large
ly increased expenses for separators,
which the two or three COW farmers
cannot afford, even though these cows
be of the best. We think that the out
come will be that cream separators
must in many neighborhoods be made
cooperative, number of farmers unit
ing to buy one and keeping it at such
central point as will be most easily &C
cessible to all. In this way the farmer
whose COWS are poor will find his week
~ returns fall off, while those who take
pains to secure and breed the best COWS
will make enough to be encouraged to
extend their dairy business.
There can be no doubt that the but