The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-02-07
IMPROVEMENT OF LIVE STOCK.
Grade Up the Common Stock by the
Use of Well Selected, Pure Bred

| SireS.
To the Editor of The State:
AS was pointed out in a previous ar
ticle, we have in South Carolina all
the natural conditions necessary for
the development of a successful live
stock industry. What we need above
everything else to place this industry
upon a good paying basis is an i'm
provement in the quality of our live
stock. I submit herewith a few point
ers as to how improvement may be
most ready effected.
Here, as elsewhere, the safest and
most economical means of lettering
the quality Of live stock is to grade up
our common stock by the use Of care
| fully selected, pure bred sires. By this
method we do not get stock that can
be registered, but we wo get stock
which in practical untility very close
ly approaches our registered stock.
Too many Of our farmers are laboring
under the delusion that good results
can be secured from registered or
pedigreed live stock only. The pre-
vailing belief seems to be that all reg
istered stock possesses some degree Of
excellence over common animals and
that such thing as a scrub has no
existence outside OF the common Or
graded classes. Farmers should not
forget the fact, however that While
the right kind of pedigreed stock is
of first importance, there is plenty Of
this class of stock that is not worth
the purchasing. This emphasizes the
need OF using the utmost caution in
the selection of pure bred sires to head
our herds and focks.
We should not allow ourselves to be
deceived by long pedigrees. A pedi-
gree is simply a recorded statement of
the ancestry Of an ANIMAL and its val
ue depends primarily upon the merits
of the animals represented in it. In
secelecting a pure bred dairy bull, for
example. our first and most impor
tont duty IS to inquire rigidly into the
milking capacity Of his dam, his sire's
DAM. and so on down the line. I'm
fortunately most Of US are contented
to find N his pedigree sl4.-ri.- long
list Of high sounding nunes OF al.
mails and .aere are those who actually
go so far as to value an animal so.e.y
on the length Of his pedigree.
AS already stated, many worthless
animals are continually being regis
!tered because their eligibility to regis
tration is solely determined by their
purity of breeding. Such animals we
are wont to designate as pure bred
scrubs and such in reality they are.
Knowing. then, that there are plenty
of pure bred scrubs in existence, it be-
hooves US to be especially careful not
only to see that the animal we are af-
ter is descended from stock Of great
excellence, but that the individual it
self possesses that quality and perfec-
ton so essential in all animals.
One great mistake of purchasers Of
pure bred stock is that they expect too
much for too little money. Instead Of
trying to purchase a bull and few
heifers of common merit for small,
sum of money, it is far better policy
TO cut out the heifers and invest the
entire sum in a bull of outstanding
merit, it is the evident wisdom Of this
policy that leads us to advocate the
grading up Of relatively cheap unreg-
istered females with registered males
of a high degree of excellence.
The male is by far the most import
ant animal in the herd, flock or stud.
The familiar expression, ''The bull is
half the herd.t' does not do Justice to
that part which the bull plays in the
making or unmakirg of a herd. 1t is
a matter Of common knowledge that
pure bred animals will transmit their
characteristics with much greater
certainty than do common or grade
animals. It is evident, therefore, that
the offspring from common or grade
females and pure bred males will pos
sess more Of the characteristics of the
male than Of the female. From this
it, he will be able to bring the herd or
male is an animal of exceptional mer-
t. ne will be ableto bring the herd or
flock of common animals to state of
perfection approaching his, own in
very few generations. If the pure bred
male be one of the scrub or inferior
kind. he is just as certain to drag the
herd or flock down in similarly short
period Of time John MichelS,
Associate Professor Animal Husband
~ and Dairying.
Clemson College, January 30, 1906.