Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1908-07-18
PEDIGREE COUNTS
HEAVILY IN Sire
South Dakota Man Says Stock
kaisers Make a Very Com
mon Mistake.

r. A. Candor. of Cogswell, North Da-
kota, a successful breeder, has the fol- |
lowing good advice to give breeders ta-
ken from his own experience, recently |
published in the Dakota Farmer:
My own observation and thought has
been given entirely to cattle. Howey-
er, / believe the same principles apply
to all live stock. My attention has
been recently drawn to widely diver
gent opinions on the significance OF
pedigree in live stock improvement.
There are many men wo give the
subject very little study or thought and
yet have deep rooted and positive opin-
ions. They seem to believe that advo-
Gates Of good pedigrees regard individ-
uality as of little consequence If the
pedigree is there. Hence the word,
'pedigreed scrub" was coined.
Our live stock papers have contained
many warnings TO beginners to avoid
buying pedigree and ignoring individu-
ality. The facts are that most of the
pedigree buying is done by just two
classes: The men of experience who
knows its value and rich mems sons
who want TO drop some money on
fad, the latter about as much to the
detriment to the breed they invest in
as the former is benefit.
But there is another side to the ques-
tion: There are many people who read
these warning articles and wrongly un-
derstand them. Many anxious to i'm
prove and seeking for real light and
help, by getting this wrong under
standing, come to believe that pedigree
is of no significance whatever. This
opinion is not warranted by the facts.
These people are the real support of
the breeder, or should be rather. and
If they were given the right informa-
tion they would become the foundation
for wonderful Improvement in our live
stock.
How many of us have heard the
statement from owners that they OBJ
tain exactly the same price for their
scrub-sired steers as they do for those
sired by pure bred bulls. They often
do, for the reason that the buyers
averages them up and takes off from
the price of the good ones enough to
make up for the poorer ones But
we also know ii to be true that
the discriminating buyer sorts up
his purchases and invariably gets
! better price for the steer that
shows quality, and il is the ex-
Ception, and not the rule, that the
scrub sired steer ever gets into the
quality class. Now the raiser of quail
ity steers should get the benefit of this
selection, which he does only when ne
has a reasonable number of good quail
ity, and he knows il.
We have seen many Aberdeen An
gus Shorthorn first crosses that were
individually the equal of pure breds.
Such animals are frequently kept for
breeders. This is a grand mistake. In
the very nature of things they have
little breed prepotency and their lack
of pedigree is usually apparent in the
offspring. The pure bred sire, on the
other hand, may not be any better, or
even as good individually, as the grade
but he Will, as rule, throw vastly SUI
! perior calves because he has a long line
of pure blood behind him en- both sire's
and dams side, giving him a breed
prepotency not possessed by the other
animal. 1t seems strange that this
| point is so often not understood by
many intelligent farmers. When a
pure bred sire IS used and followed by
! the grade, a good strong convert to
pure bred sires is sure to result, If the
victim is an observant man, where no
amount Of argument would suffice. The
trouble with this is, that although eff
feotiVC, II is far tCO slow. The steering
of rather inferior pure-bred bulls has
! been advocated by some men whose
| opinions deserve the utmost respect
notably the veneral Colonel Woods. !
am inclined to think, however, that II
strongly bred, the better plan is to let
them do missionary work at steer
prices. Their prepotency will frequent
| ly produce the occular evidence to con-
vince, where argument is in vain.
| Quality is an attribute that is hard to
! define. All successful feeders and
stock buyers know what it is, and
feeders are very pleased to pay for it.
1t will never be attained by the use OF
scrub sires no matter how good they are
! individually. They do not have the pre-
| potency to transmit the good qualities
that they have acquired from a pre-
potent sire.
Our North Dakota Agricultural col
! lege had an exhibit at the state fair
I a year ago, that ! believe should be
made every year and given a more
prominent position. 1t consisted OF
four steers, illustrating the finished
beef, the good, medium and poor feed
er. A comparatively few noticed the
educational feature. The majority OF
/ the men, we as breeders wish to in
terest. did not catch the point at all
Quality is not weight or fat; it rather
represents the ability to make the
greatest response in gains to the feed
supplied. This is what feeders want
and are willing to pay for.
Communities that, as n whole use
pure bred sires, do obtain better prices
for their steers. There are more pure
! bred sires in use in the Dakotas now
! than there ever were before. The
! breaking up of the ranges is at hand
and the money value Of more quality
obtained by the use of pure bred sires
should be brought to the attention OF
the small cattle owner by every pos
sible means within our reach.