The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1908-01-23
SELECTING BREEDING STOCK

The following address by G.. w. Pat
terson taken from the North Dakota
Farmer is worthy place in every
farm journal in the country. We give
it entire, it is as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Selec-
ton of Breeding Stock" is big sub
iect to discuss in fifteen minutes, the
time allotted to me- We must therefore
do it only in spots or Just touch the
high places" The first thing to con-
slider is, why do We select breeding
stock? One man will tell you it is
to get beauty in the horse, another
speed, another size, another bone, an.
other feet and SO on with innumerabe
reasons, whether it be horses, cattle,
sheep or swine. And it is true that
all these things are to be considered,
but are they the reasons why we Sc
lect?
Too often We lose sight Of the main
reason and go chasing after fads and
fancies.
The Percheron man wants them
black, the Clyde and Shire men want
the feather on the legs, the Shorthorn
man wants his cattle red, the Shrop-
shire and Marino men want their sheep
to be wooded on the nose and legs and
so on through all the breeds.
The black Percheron, when on the
market for actual use, sells at a dis
count when compared with his grey
brother. The featherlegged Clydes
and Shires will not sell with their
clean-legged stable mates. The red
steer will sell on the market for what
he is worth on the block, and can you
tell whether he was red, roam or white
or do you care?
l dare say that all the wool ever pro-
duced on sheep below the eyes and
below the knew would not pay for
the expense of taking it off, and we all
know that it is an ecumbrance to the
sheep, an actual detriment.
These are only a few OF the things
we as breeders are demanding, be-
cause of foolish prejudice caused pure
ly by fads and fancies with no sign of
the practical.
To me it resolves itself right down
to this; 1t is only to get better mar
ket for our farm products. The only
reason we breed at all is because our
grass and grain bring more net to the
farmer when fed into stock than when
sold on the market. Oats may be
worth twenty-five cents per bushel on
the farm to take to market. If they
will ten cents when fed to good lambs,
then surely farmer would be foolish
that would not feed them.
If you have flock of ewes that raise
forty per cent of lambs that pay
twenty cents per busheI, for the corn
and oats they consume, and your
neighbor has flock that brings fifteen
per cent of lambs that pay sixty cents
per bushel, for the corn and oats they
consume, do you think it would take
you long to discover that there was
something wrong? That you should
do some selecting? You should find
out what kind sold for the highest
price when fat, the kind that, would
make the largest number of pounds
out of bushel of grain, the kind that
would bring the largest per cent of
lambs, and as nearly as possible COM
bine all these and other desirable quail
tiles in one sheep.
To bring the highest price they must
be built to produce the largest possible
per cent of choice cuts of meat. The
ability to make the largest possible
number of pounds out of a bushel of
grain, is one of the most valuable quail.
tiles to be sought by breeder of any