The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1920-04-14
BETTER SIRES MEAN
DOLLARS AND CANTS
County Agent Shows 1t Is Poor Policy
[" Keep Stock "As Good as the
Average" When Average is Low
-Examples Prove Convincing.

what is the usc of all this noise
about Better Sires and Better Stock?
1t was one of the wcll-to-do farmers
OF the county who was talking. Look
. at those steers over yondcr. No pure
ofeu Sircs among their ancestors so
far as know. But they are good
enough for me. | tell you, Bascom," ;"
nc said earnestly, coming over to the
fence beyond which the county agent
sat in his nivvcr. "Ill admit wccc
got lot of help i'm scientific wav
from the information you've brought
u.s. but on this stock proposition it's
different. | believe in good stock, of
course, and take Il reasonable pride il
my animals, but what is the use Of
OVERRIDING it? We better move along
the way we have been for the past 20
years, | say. Sometimes we get some
poor animals, of course, but the crca-
tu:"s on my place suit me pretty we'll.
My father, on the old farm back East,
never worried about purcbrcd srcs
good enough for father is good enough
for me-"
-SHold on Il minute" said the county.
agent, stopping his motor and coming
over to the fence. "Hou'vc ALWAYS
listened to what | have had to say in
the past and | want YOU to listen to me
now, for the simple reason that it
means dollars and cents to you. It's
nothing in my pocket, but it will mean
more profits for you when you sell
your livestock products.
Nov here itshc dope, as the boys
say: United States Department of
Agriculture mon, other animal huG-
bandry specialists, poultry specialists
and all the rest have figured this thing
out on broad basis. There arc no
two ways about it, Better sircs mean
better stock; that means better mar
ketable products, and that means bet
ter profits"
Boy Converts His Father
For an hour Bascom, the county
agent, and aSm, the farmer, talked
over the bcttcr-sircs campaign, the
county agent skillfuly citing exam
pies from his own personal knowledge
and from reports he had read. He
told, Tor instance, OF New Jersey
boy who was influenced to buy a high
grade COW for $l55, quite to the dis
gust of his ''practical" father who
owned five cows, which he claimed
ana truthtully, were cas- good as the
average in the ncighborhood" On
freShening, the boys cow gave pa
quarts Of milk. and kept it up for q
IonW period, while none of the faith
cr's COWS was able to make any such
rccorl. Finally the father saw the
point and confessed that it was "A deal
more profitable to cXpcnd his l;,bori
and feed on wcll-brcd animals than
on his so-call2d average COWS.
The incident set the county agcnt'si
friend to thinking, and the former lost
no opportunity to press his point
home.
"Samc,' he went ON, you don't be-
GIN TO realize what this thing will,
mean on your place. Right brccdng
counts every time. The United Sta
1 tcS Department of Agriculture tells of
IN Oklahoma Farmer who owned two
registered Shorthorn ycariing bulls
htat he priced highly for breeding
purposes. \ butcher saw those bulls
and on asking the price learned that
they were registered and that it would
take 5000 to buy the two. What did
he do but pay the 5000, and when he
killed them he said they were the
cheapest cattle he had bought for a
long time, because they cut the better
kinds of beef, and moro of it. NV
private opinion is it was too bad to
deprive the community Of the use Of
those purcbrcds, even though the
butcher was willing to pay the price
But this is the bic point: Breeding
counted in dollars and cents in tkal
case, and it does every time"
Hogs Pay Despite High Price
Turning from the subject Of cattle
to hogs, the county agent told Of
what North Carolina boys had been
doing. Gwen though hogs had never
been so high" he saii Hundreds Of
boys bought purcbrcd pigs with the
expectation Of Sclln." their offspring.
Those lads were not IiS1pDOintpI pI