The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-01-30

There has been so much aid and
/ written about the gereTal-purpose COW
| that it may seem there is nothing new
or interesting that remains to be said.
But there is one Phase oe the subject
I that has not been much talked about
In the public press and wha / have to
say will be along tina line. namely.
personal experience with dairy short
horns. says ]. H. Siaght III the Mlchl-
gan Farmer.
When L commenced breeding Short
horns l knew nothing of fashionable or
| questionable breeding and almost as
little about The various grades of h u
breed, but my neighoor WAS selling n a
class of stock for nigh prices. why
should / not do the same? Being 4
nan of limited means and limited time
TO give TO such things. the first pur-
chase was Il solitary heifer which
proved 10 DE a good mixer and breeder.
A. the number increased n 1t became
necessary to procure sires, the question
arose, what linz of breeding Is 1t best
TO pursue? All great breeders seem TO
have bred for Il certain type or form
and quality, adhering strictly TO the
plan until they had established a herd
and a type that fitted their ideal.
Would it be wise to trim ones sails TO
the winds and breed the class OF stock
that. for the time being. would bring
the most money. or breed for a definite
type and stick to it?
The latter course was decided upon
and has been adhered to for many
years. The class selected was the gem
eral purpose COW. not only because it
was thought such an animal was best
suited and most profitable for the farm
er of moderate means, bu to demon
strate thai there is such an animal and
that she is 4 very desirable piece of
property.
The form and quality sought was an
animal having Il level back. possessing
medium size, neither course and long
clean head and muzzle. long, slender
neck, broad deep chest. ribs we'll
sprung and large heart. lung and food
capacity: broad, square hips and large
udder. not flesh. In short. a good .ap-
pearlng 10Y that would manufacture
g. large amount OF food into good rich
milk during Iactatiou and urn her feed
into flesh OF good quality when dry.
In pursuance Of this plan a Bay
county herd was visited and the ia
mo- Moss Rose 4th. a state fair pre-
MUM taker, as the best milk n but
ter COW in the state, was found to be
of the right style and type for the
purpose. A bull from her was secured
and placed at the head OF the hero.
This bull, Rose Knight, 1l7154. proved
to be just the animal desired. His get
at /. 2 or 3 years. if not giving milk
We're ready for beef at any time with
out grain. One winter when hay was
scarce he was kept through on straw.
and near spring a shipper sought to
buy him to ship for beef. Not every
one Of his heifer calves made good
dairy COWS but most of them did. He
had a wonderful power Of transmit
ting his mothers dairy quality to his
get. Since then several bulls have
been procured. all being chosen for
their beef and dairy quality. The re-
suit is a herd OF COWS that are near
the ideal. though there is still much
room for Improvement. One objection
with some might be hat they are
never fat while giving milk, and that
is nearly all the time. Feed or pasture
not to flesh. During the few weeks
they are dry they take on fesh rapidly
If the feed is good. But no effort is
made to get them in high condition
With this treatment there han been but
one case of milk fever in the herd dur.
ing the twenty-three years they have
been kept. and this was brought on b,
feeding grain too soon after calving
A few years ago one of these COW:
dropped a grade calf. Not desiring t.
raise 1T, 1t was thought best to let i
suck the COW and sell it for Christina.
beef. Although the calf was a large
hearty fellow, it was six weeks befor,
he would take all the milk. At abou
six months he weighed 700 pounds
with but little grain towards the last
Since h this COW has sucked tw,
calves each summer and raised then
well without grain. During the pas
season three of these cows have fur
nished milk for Two calves each and al
but n of the calves have grown fine
IS. The three cows thus set free TO
milking purposes would either OF Their
have furnished milk to grow two calve
successfully. Why such cows are pre-
ferred by the writer to the pure bee