The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-06-29
Scrub Cows Don't Pay.

If n of the great throng of farm
ers who are blindly adhering to scrub
cow breeding were asked why he does
not keep pure breds he would reply
that it cost too much to start, and
that the purchase of a new bull every
two years would eat up a good share
of the profits. Here are two fallacies
that require some attention. There
are many farmers who will not allow
themselves to think beyond the first
cost of a pair of registered calves.
They can not see" 500 in a heifer
calf. and wonder how any one can be
so foolish as to throw away" so
much money on a calf that the butch-
er world think dear at $40. But the
buyer of such a calf is not viewing
the question from the butchers stand
point. He does not propose to make
meat of a registered heifer, but he
looks ahead to the time when he will
have a whole herd Of registered
COWS, IN one of which will be worth
more than double as much as the
scrub, whether for dairy purposes or
to sell. .
This question Of beginning right is
a very important one in all walks Of
life, but especially to the breeder OF
live stock, as the increase in the herd
soon grows by leaps and bounds and
the first outlay is as nothing compared
to the increased returns in the not
distant future. The writer knows a
dairy farmer who figured out a dead
loss from scrub cows-practical eX-
perience and nc guess work. he
made a study of the official butter
records of the different dairy breeds,
and on the strength of that knoWl-
edge he invested 500 in three heif-
ers that were closely related to the
best lows of the breed, and that aver
aged less than thirteen months old.
That was. less than five years ago, and
he now has a nice little herd of pure
bred COWS. His cream checks are
opening the eyes Of his neighbors,
and he has sold more than $500
worth of registered stock at prices
very much lower than he paid to get
his start. He is booking orders for
heifer. calves before they are born at
SIS each, and future prospects are
bright for nice profits from cream n
calves.
He reminds his friends that the
man who pays $3.50 for ali ideal ear
of corn is not expecting to feed it to
the pigs, but that he coolly computes
it's worth as a breeder of high-class
corn, and he is far-sighted enough to
see it's influence ON future crops.
Doubtless there -: many. farmers
who take a similar view of the grain
and live stock problem. They are
thoroughly convinced that it pays to
have the best, but they are just too
timid to make the start. They may
be brave soldiers, they may be heroes
in many places of danger; but they
have yet to learn that there is such a
thing as cool, business bravery.
There are places for brave men he
| sides upon battle fields. This is It
a plea for the reckless expenditure Of
money with ones eyes shut, but for :
judicious expenditure after carefully
considering the probable returns, not
within six months but within a rea-
sonable time.
Regarding the outlay for bulls.
there are some wrong views enter
tanned. 1t is not always necessary to
buy.a new n every two years. If
he is of good vitality and free from
undesirable qualities, his choice
heifers may be bred back to him with
no fear of bad results. When the
time comes to dispose of him, he will
bring enough from the butcher, if
in proper condition, to pay for a bull
calf; so that the total cost of bulls
may be figured in advance to the
price paid for the first one plus the
cost OF feed thereafter. This may
be reduced by the service fees from
the neighbors who are willing to pay
for the use of a good bull.
This cost of bulls may be alto
gether eliminated by breeding to a
neighbours bull if there should be one
Of the right breed and value
within convenient reach. Community
breeding, that is, all the people in
one region deciding upon M breed,
will very materially lessen expenses;
but this is too large a problem 10 CONF
slider here.-W. H. Underwood, in tina
Indiana Farmer.