Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-03-30
Pure Bred Livestock.

FARMERS NOT ADVISED TO BREED
MORE THAN ONE KIND AT A TIME.
Within the last three days three very
pointed and pertinent questions have
been asked Of me by Tribune subscrib-
ers. They can all be answered under
one head. / am therefore going to
bunch them and answer them under the
one question: "Would you advise all
the farmers in this country to engage in
breeding on their farms only pure bred,
registered animals?"
A brief answer would be, "No,
would not" / would not advise one
tenth of them to engage in breeding
even one class of animals as pure
breed. Now, know this answer will
fall as a thunderclap on the ears OF many
who read it, as have long been urging
farmers to breed better animals and
have been a breeder Of pure bred ami.
mails. own some pure bred cattle and
sheep now, and the women OF the house
have the ownership of one breed OF
fowls, my part of the work being to fur
nish the feed and clean the henhouse for
| am not smart enough to
engage in breeding all animals on the
farm pure and not make failure OF it,
and think have ordinary intelligence.
learned BY experience that it takes a
good man TO handle one breed OF AMI
mails and keep them pure and growing
better all the time. If this is not done
any breed will soon become back num-
Der. / don't believe there is progress
i've, successful breeder of any kind OF
animals in the United States but will
saw that he would to-day be ashamed to
90 into the show ring on a county fair
ground with the class of animals he
showed ten years ago, and felt proud Of,
too. No breed of animals has as yet
reached perfection, and he who engages
in the business, thinking he has become
the owner of a first class herd or flock,
and has nothing to do but feed them
well and have buyers come with their
shekels and buy his surplus stock at big
prices, will soon learn by bitter expert
snce that his shekels in the bank will be
growing less. The buyers who are
ready to pay big prices are much like
the proverbial hens teeth.
There is also another side to it. Many
a farmer can so mate his animals as to
produce good offspring. But there are
less than a score of farmers who can
breed well and feed we'll where one
farmer can be found who can sell well.
II is an illustration of what l once heard
the head of a large department store say:
''Any fool of a clerk can sell lady a
calico dress, but it takes salesman TO
sell her silk gown" g,
To be plain about it, the breeding and
selling of pure bred stock, from chickens
10 horses, is a trade that has to be learn
ed: and, like other trades, there must be
a natural adaptability the first thing,
and then there must be constant study
Of the business. To put pure bred stock
into the hands of every farmer would
mean a financial failure to nine out OF
every ten who put their money into It,
for the simple reason that they are not
educated up to the requirements OF the
business. Now, hear distant murmurs
from readers of this, who are saying,
'sW hat is that fellow trying to do, any
way?" Hold on, brethren, l am not
vet. | want every farmer in
this whole land to breed better animals
than forty-nine out of every NIFTY are
now breeding. Their scrub stock Is
not paying them to breed at all; and in
some cases know of it is actually ruin
ing them fiuancially-slowly, but sure
ly. all the same-and change must be
made. 1t takes a smart boy to gradu-
ate from a college in four years time;
then he is just ready to begin to learn
concerning his chosen pro-
and a farmer who engages IN
breeding pure bred animals needs
schooling just as much as the BOY.
How shall he get it? Simple enough.
Learn his business step by step, or book
by book, just as the boy or girl goes
through the grades in his or her school
work. Let him buy pure bred male to
use as the sire of any class of stock he
NAV be breeding, unless it be horses or
possibly cattle, in which case he may for
a feebe enabled to get the services OF a
peighbor's stallion or bull that is pure
bred and has a high degree of merit.
That last sentence l want every farm
ar TO take note of. Merit, merit, merit!
A pure bred stallion, bull, mare, boar OF
rooster without individual merit is some.
times a worse animal to breed TO than
scrub, as his purity of blood will stamp
his poor qualities more iorcibly on Ms
offsoring than will scrub mongrel
There should be laws enacted in every
state in the union prohibiting any man
from collecting service fees from any
thing but a pure bred animal, and the
law should be doubly prohibitlve In the
use of pure bred sires without merit.
Right here / want to digress little
and say: The breeders OF America al
the present time-many OF them, from
nv standpoint-are forsakiqg many
things truly useful for things fancy, and
some score cards are paying too little
attention to constitution and laying toe
great stress on udders on cows and
markings of nose and switch. Many q
truly valuable colt, calf, ram or boar Is
castrated because he has not fancy
markings, though he has constitution
and true merit. 1t is that class OF pure
bred males that farmers can always buy
at reasonable price from breeders, and
nv using them in their focks and herds
can double the productive value OF them
AS they do this, they have gone into
another grade higher up; then let them
reach another grade by using pure
bred sire of the same breed (never an
other breed) on the get-of the hrst sire
and again, and the farmer will be al
yancipg in his grades as he advances II
knowledge. He will soon have money
to invest in a limited number OF pure
bred females. Now, word concerning
them: Never buy a poor one. Buy
good one for $500, rather than two in
ferior ones for the same money. Th'
same rule holds good through all classes
of animals. If you buy a rooster, be
sure the egg he was hatched from wa
from a good laying hen. This is more
important than the fancy feather he ma!
have on his back or the color OF hts legs
when his mother didn't lay, perhaps
three dozen eggs. When eggs and mea
are looked after as carefully as fancier
look after feathers there will DO NOR
money in the chicken business than now
Feathers will sell birds for time, ou
sogs and meat will have their day yer,
soon with the general public, or am OF
INV base. 1t is along the lines indicate'
That the livestock of this country Will D.