Gunnison news-champion., 1916-01-21
1 I'll nnlH %
ID. c. oormsa N Field and Fss~.-

In the early days If our western
farming. when land was cheap. ~ sale
of fat cattle off the grass ws~ ossr chief
source Of revenue. Even shsn, hsx-
ever. although 10 had none of the i'm
proved breeds TO deal With, we asdR
q point of keeping tee biockles< eows
and hesters for breeding, and ~ csf
showing the most pronounced b~ef fsra
rs it would be called nowsAAys, wss
always saved to later become The hesd
of the herd As times changed 81 the
range became restricted to the lond we
paid taxes upon, we found that Il ~
not pay to feed a coz yeer 10 pssdsce
a calf and little milk for oar go uas
after the calf was wesned, 30 ws sAea
gave our attention to d~sryiag, but
found with such . stock of csws - esrs
was, we had IN uphill BUSINESS. - y.
introduced Jersey bleod ~ fest - eur
mesrs permitted and in . few ysess ~
a very creditsbie herd of pussAssdb -
grades, mostly the latter. ~ M
yes noe oil thst could be desissA 81
we he'd gotten to the point vAsss -
rsckoned On IN sveraGe yield Il - 1sast
NO pousds Of butter year fpsD seeA
coz, but still we did not fee, UAsllv
satisfied. for we eesld ROt aiapn Z
our surplss iscrsese ct paviaG VsissA
the male cslves sseecislly ssia0 bse-
gine for . purchaser. Ne 1ssaess
wanted snythiaG 10 Do With The pssky
littIe Jerseys, end - they vsss nst
pedigrssd end rsGissessd they csul1 not
BE- p~t q Tie nsrtst - bsssasss. To
saly thiae ~ sssld = - 10 1ss1 -
sussslvss ssd ell sASa fer vAst thi5
would bring. Fsstsastely fss us, -
we're offered bssstifsl dssp red yousg
Shorthorn bull ct . price ~ felt sbi
10 pay, and Ne were induced ~ buy him
because he was gusrsstssd 10 be de-
scended from . long line Of great milk
producers, end although ve were warn
ed by our friends Who believed only 10
special purpose animals, that we were
fooling ourselves, yet we bought him
and bred the gresser number of our
cows to him-sll the gvsdee, in fact
end SO prepotent IVES he that every
calf showed the color end general beef
form of their sire. The calves grew
right along on their rations of skim
milk and alfalfa and when weaned we
did not have to give them away to get
rid of them, ~ buyers he'd heretofore
sarcasticslly advised Us to do. for they
were snapped up at the best prevailing
prices. We sold only the steer calves
reserving the heifer calves to form the
basis Of IN experiment We decided to
undertake In prov,ag whstker it were
practical to make . profit out of dual
purpose cows 0ur helf-bloOd heifer
calves were typical Shorthorns in color
and form, and might have been looked
upon - . COED Foundation fer Q beef
herd, but we knew they hed milking
qualities back Of them On both sides,
They were fed literally on skim milk
with some grain and had the run of
good pasture and when weaned hber-
al feed of oats was given every day,
and both morning and night when they
were housed and fed they were petted
and fondled until perfectly tame and
submissive. ! neglected to say that
they were bred when about two years
old to their half brother the offspring
of their sire and shorthorn COW #
great milking capacity, which produced
by actual test, ten pounds Of butter a
week. With these three quarter calves
we had the same experience as with
the half bloods; buyers were eager to
get them at good prices, and we kept
the heifer calves as before in order TO
try out their milking qualities before
we decided to keep them or sci them.
To cut the story short they came ~ TO
our expectations as mixers and as We
had opportunity to sell Jersey COW
here and there to those who especially
favored this breed, and our herd came
to be composed entirely of the descent
ants of our first Shorthorn sire. with
the exception Of two Jersey cows that
had been special pets from calfhood
and were retained on account of serti-
mental reasons. Our experience proves
there are duaI-purpose animals and
that the income from the special pur-
pose class, when we take into consider-
alton the value of the calf and the cost
of the feed needed to bring about a