The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1904-12-01
Selecting the Calf for Raising

The science OF judging mas COME III
as a help in the raising OF COWS Tor
milk giving and steers for beer max
ing In the past we have raised
good many beeves that were not pro-
fitable as makers of that king OF meat
and we have raised good many
COWS that were not profitable as pro-
ducers of milk and butter, says
Farmers Review 1t would nave
far better to have killed both kinds
of calves as soon as they had passed
the four-week limit rather than raise
them to be dependents on the farm
and exploiters of the pockets OF their
owners. We are finding out good
many things now, and one or them
is how to select calf that stands any
show of making the kind OF an animal
we want for any purpose.
On many farms it has been the habit
to raise any kind of an animal that
promises to become consumer OF the
roufage of the fields. Sight was lost
of everything but this. The consum-
ing of the roughage is, indeed, an i'm
portant point and one that should not
be regarded as a side issue, yet it will
make a big difference to the farmer
what kind of an animal is used as the
machine for converting this rough ma
terial into fine beef. The boy on the
farm who has been to the agricultural
college and taken a course in stock
Judging now picks out the animals to
be raised, and he does it with a good
deal of care.
For a calf to be used as a fOunda-
ton for the making of beef he selects
a calf with short legs and stOckily
built. H looks at the eyes and in
their brightness he finds vigor. He
examines by means of the outside con-
formation and development of the di-
gestive machienry. He feels the hair
to see if it is soft and silky, for he
says that in case it is not it shows
that the nutrition is deficient and that
natural oils that should keep the hair
in a fine condition are not in suffi-
cient abundance. If the hair is fine
and glossy and the skin rolls easily in
his hands, he believes that the animal
will make a good feeder in the course
of maturing. The other calves he
rejects and advises that they be sent
to the butcher We have seen times
it was otherwise. The stocky calf,
with the short legs and the fine, soft
hair was purchased by the village
butcher that was going round the
country looking for veal material. The
knowing butcher selected the one that
would make him the most profit, but
told the farmer that he did not want
the other calves at the same price, be-
cause they were long-legged and
scrawny. The farmer kept them, for
he said they could be raised and would
make good beeves later What he
should have done would have been to
insist on the butcher taking the in
ferior calves at some price or other
and leaving the calf of fine conforma-
ton for the making of the future
steer.
The same kind of process has gone
on in the selection of calves to be de-
veloped into dairy COWS. We have
seen a butcher laboring with a farm
err to sell him a calf whose mother
was known to possess great qualities
as a milk producer The butcher
was in need of veal Just at that NOM
ent. and this calf was not of verv
bad form for veal making. The Dre-
vailing prices for calves at that time
was about 81 The butcher offered