The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-03-04

one who beats the ace rage, and 80 dc
so he must not be handicapped with
an average cow or steer. It Is ad.
mitted that the ''dual purpose" COW
is not the best either for dairy OF
beef purposes. Is then resolves it.
self into the question, do we want
an animal of the highest merit in
beef or dairy production or one Of
average merit in bothP
SPECIAL PURPOSE BREEDS NEEDED.
The highest merit in beef produc-
ton is attained in the beef-bred steer
and the highest merit in dairy pro-
duotion is attained by the dairy bred
cow. If beef then is our principal
interest, then one of the beef breeds
should be selected as the best is none
too good. Another great advantage
of the special purpose animal is the
greater uniformity of type and ex-
o~ellenoe. There is always a much
smaller percentage of oulls or infe-
rior animals. This is but a natural
result of breeding for a special pur-
pose, but it's Importance in influence
ing the results of our labors can
scarcely be over estimated.
DIFFERENCES IN TYPE.
The beef animal is bred to retain
the products of the food elements in
his body as flesh and fat, while the
dairy animal is bred to throw them
off from the body in the form of
milk, only retaining enough for the
bare needs of the animal economy.
These functions are so essentially
different, if not antagonistio, that
necessarily the types are entirely
distinct. The divergence in form
becomes apparent at a glance at
typical specimens of the two GLASSES
of animals. The beef type calls for
a massive head and a short, thick
neck, while the dairy form shows a
delicate clean out head and slender
neck. The former presents shoulders
and withers that are broad, and fat,
while the latter has thin shoulders
and is sharp at the withers. The
lower line of the beef type is straight
with the TANKS very full and thick,
while in the dairy COW the straight
lower line is absent and the flank is
especially thin and ''out up" to a
marked degree. The same contrast
is noticeable in the hips and loins.
In the one is the thickly feshed loin
and broad smooth hips, while in the
other the same parts are lean and
angulrr. The degree of difference in
the opposing types is still further 40.
centuated in the thighs. Those of
the beef animal are thick from side
TO side, and so we'll feshed that the
posterior line is straight or only
sligh tly curved from root of tail TO
hook. In the dairy cow the thighs
+ thin to give place for a large
udder and the absence of any sur
plus flesh gives q decidedly oonoave
p~osterior line.
Let us now look a little deeper into
this matter and see if the investiga-
tors have shown wherein and why
the beef bred steer is superior
FOR BEEF PRODUCTION.
The first point that would natur-
ally suggest itself would be that he
would make more pounds of gain on
i given amount of food.
To the surprise of many, this is
probably not so to a marked degree.
When Sanborn announced the result
of an experiment in which the Ozark
scrub made as many. pounds of gain
on a given amount of food as the
well-bred beef steer, many we're in
credulous, but subsequent expert
ments at the Miohigan, Iowa, On
tario, Kansas and Missouri Expert
ment Stations have confirmed the
statement that the scrub, or dairy
bre1 steer, will make a pound of gain
on as little food, or as cheaply, as
the beef bred steer. The average
for the three beef breeds, Hereford,
Shorthorn and Angus, in all the Ok
periments referred to above was 724
pounds of food for 100 pounds of
gain while the average for the Hol-
stems, Jerseys and others was 722
pounds of food for 100 pounds of
gain. 1t is true that these expert
ments T. not complete nor oonclu-
sive. They have not taken the ami
mails from birth, which is a very
great defect. Moreover, the fact
that the beef breeds at an average