The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1914-04-03

| SA0oOCo pCAOA6 W LAC uudl-pQl pO6C
class. This is obviously unfair and
needs no consideration here. There
| are many herds of high producinf
dual-purpose cattle throughout the
| country. There are many other herds
of so--called dual-purpose cattle that
have failed of the purpose for which
they were intended. These failures
have however, been due to poor judge
ment and improper care.
! My belief is that the greatest sue
cess will come to the breeder who
treats his dual-purpose cattle primar-
! lily as dairy cattle, but who breeds for
size and easy-fleshing qualities from
COWS of high-milking performance.
The herd bun must posses inherited
milking qualities, but should incline
to beef form. The nearer the cows
approach this form, the more highly
| will they be appreciated.
| / believe it is true that the dual
purpose COW is not being bred with SO
much care as the special purpose
cattle. IT, as the dual-purpose advo-
Gates claim, that she is the farmers
cow" 1t is not to be expected that the
| average farmer will give the careful
attention to breeding problems that
the men who specialize in that line of
production will Many good farmers
are poor breeders, but it is manifestly
unfair to charge against a breed the
mistakes OF lot of poor breeders.
A great deal of stress has been laid
upon the adaptibility of the dual-pur-
pose cow to Western conditions, where
the coarser feeds, together with
grains, are grown in abundance. 1t
has been shown that she and her pro-
geny are we'll adapted to converting
the cheaply grown alfalfa into milk
and meat. There is another section
of the country where | believe this
type is destined to become popular.
I refer to the Southeastern portion
of the United States.
In many of these states there are
still vast areas of cheap land we'll
adapted to cattle production. And I
know of hundreds of thousands of
acres of land above the tick line, at an
altitude of from 900 to $500 feet, that
will pasture cattle many months in the
year.
Much of this land is still to be
distinction as a dual-purpose breed.
Cattle of this breed have repeatedly
won high honors in the slaughter tests
atsthe International Livestock EXPOSE
ton, and great credit is due a breeder
OF these cattle in Iowa who, year af-
ter year, has brought splendid exhi-
bits of both breeding and fat animals
to the Chicago show. The record of
that herd alone presents a strong ar
gument in support of the dual-purpose
idea. There are number of herds of
Red Polled throughout the country
averaging we'll above 5000 pounds of
milk COW a year. Some years ago
at the Smithfield show in England, a
pure bred Red Polled steer was
slaughtered and showed a dressing
percentage of 1872. This, according
to the London Livestock Journal, had
only once been exceeded in England,
and never by a pure-bred steer of any
breed
The Devon, or the South Devon, as
it is called in England, is breed that
has long held a record for it's excel
lent doors" under adverse conditions,
The Devon is probably the oldest breed
in America, and while these cattle
have never been bred in large numbers
in the United States, they have more
than held their own as farmers type.
AS a breed, they show rather more re-
rinement than either the milking
Shorthorns or the Red Polled, but they
lack the size of either of those breeds,
nor are they as heavy milk producers.
Devon milk tests high in butterfat,
and in this respect compares favor
ably with that of the Jersey and
Guernsey
It is said that Devon steers have
hiubocf ga 81
the Smithfield show in the butchers
meat class
The beef is unusually tender and
well marbled. Throughout the East,
especially the upper New England
states, there are considerable num-
bers of these hardy red cattle to be
found upon the hillside farms. The
writer knows of one herd of Devons
in New York in which the cows aver
age round 5000 pounds of milk that
tests close to five per cent butterfat.
While there is nothing extraordinary
in such an average it is very credit
able, as this herd is handled under
ordinary conditions and fed upon
homegrown products.
In a recent lecture at the Canadian
Winter Fair Prof G. E. Day of the On
tario Agricultural College, had this to
say of the dual-purpose type: "She
cannot be fat when she is milking
heavy, and for this reason the farmer
or buyer should not be deceived into
thinking that such COW looks so
smooth as one of the straight beef
type. Steers from the dairy Shorthorn
herds of England as feeders are far
ahead of the general run of feeding
steers in this country
Prof Day believes there is place
for the dual-purpose COW in Canada;
that while a great. many farmers
would never go into dairying as spe-
,cialty, they want cows that produce
milk profitably and !. produce good
beef when required, and it is his opin-
ion that to secure such cattle in his
country it will be necessary to select
the best type of cows, develop them
along dairy lines, and pay close at
tention to the selection of sires. I'm
less sires with ample beef form plus
high milking inheritance are selected.