The Redwood gazette., 1919-11-19

IDS 10 operate dlUuE u1Au uudAuGu -
practically all Of them did 10 years
ago has rocky road il he aspires
to purebred stock Now, the whole
situation is changed, or is rapidly
changing. The small farmer does not
stand alone, and he has all kinds of
aids. There, to start with, is the
county agent, ready to bring the ac-
emulation Of expert knowledge to
bear on the problems of the small
farmer. There is the county farm
bureau, perhaps. There is the cow
testing association. There is the CO.
operative bull association. There are
enough things, il they are used, to
pull the community together and
make it possible for the smaller scale
breeders to enjoy many of the advan-
tages formerly obtained only by the
largest scale breeder.
Why not" inquire the dairy ex-
perts of the Department of Agricul-
ture, makes the United States a
purebred country, put it in the mind
of the world as a purebred country :?
People do not think of it that way
now. Try it out with yourself. You
think of the Island of Jersey, say, as
simply breeding ground for pure
Jersey cows. of Scotland as the top
notch in Aberdeen-Angus cattle, of
Clydesdale horses, even of Collie
dogs. Your picture of England is
likely to be one of purebred Here
fords or Shorthorns. And you have
a sort of feeling of reverence to-
ward them
Do you think of America, from a
live stock standpoint, in that way !?
Of course not. You think of it as
a meat producing country, range
country, grade cattle country.
Both estimates are in manner
correct. But, to the individual
farmer on the Island of Jersey or in
the white-face country of England or
the black-cattle country of Scotland,
the matter of having his animals pure
bred is simply a matter of doing what
everybody else is doing. 1t is easier
-or, to say the least, just as easy
to do it as not to do it.
Until just now, that condition new
er existed in the United States; it
does exist now Communities have or
ganized and are organizing more
closely. Breeding association are be-
ing formed with secretaries who can
give help in keeping the records of all
animals straight one of the things with
which the small farmer operating
alone has greatest difficulty. When
a community organizes and starts
raising purebred stock of any kind, it
brings market for that kind of stock
to the door, of every farmer in the
community. The man who operating
alone, could not have sold pure bred
animal for dollar more than he could
have got for a good grade animal can
get the worth of every animal he rails
es under the community system.
America has the opportunity just
now to develop as great breeding
institutions South America wants
purebred "stuff" As an Indication of
how active the want is Argentina re
Gently appropriated 500, 900 to encour-
age the importation of purebreds. If
the United States gets any considcra-
BILE portion of the business in South
America, Department experts say, it
must be because American animals
compete successfully on final test ami
mails from anywhere else in the world.
They see no trouble in doing that, witt.
dairy cattle. where production is the
test. The thing to be done is to give
the South Americans what they want
in dairy cattle.
There is likely, also, to De a pretty
big market in France for American
purebred dairy cows. The problem
of supplying that demand is some
what different from the South Amer
lean problem. France wants a gen
eral purpose COW, while the United
States is the home of the specialized
COW The thing that has Co be done
! in that case is to give France the
specialized dairy COW that mos5 near
/ ly meets the requirements, with the
/ hope that when her production ret
ords show up they will be so good
that other Freedmen will want other
cows like her.
But, after all, the big market for
purebred animals is at home. The
same facts that apply to foreign mar
kets ought to appy to beginners in
this country Take the man who has
been operating dairy farm with
] grade cows. Let him have pure'fred
that not only looks better than any
COW he ever owned before, but also
produces better, and he is pretty
certain to start substituting purebreds
/ for his grades. If he gets a poor
producer, of course, he is likely to
make up his mind that 'the purebred
business is mostly bunk" Commu-
/ nifty organization tends to see to it
that the beginner gets good pro-
ducer, which, in turn, tends to make
him a steady customer for purebred
cows until he has placed his herd on
purebred basis.
Now that he can afford to do it.
the small farmer should give himself
the pleasure and the actual benefit
of having dairy animals that he car
be enthusiastic over.
"You never saw man" says one OF
j the Governments dairy experts, 'just
boiling over with enthusiasm about
grade cows. The grade-cow man
may think about getting up early in
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