The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-01-15
NEED OF BEEF EF-CATTLEJUDGING

fat cattle co far as flesh is concerned.
 Early maturity and easy fattenlng quai- ities should be present to marked degree.
 Good handling qualities are essential, as
 excessive fat showing that the animal
 has beer pampered. is undesirable. Heavy
 flesh is necessarily of importance, but
 breeding cattle should be judged more
 by their value as breeding stock than Dy
 the flesh they carry. Supehrbundance or
 flesh may hide defects. Too much on-
 phasis cannot be given to the fact th9t
 animals being judged should have abiity
 to transmit their usefulness and deslr-
 rable characteristics to their offspring
 In fact prepotency should be so strong
 and She line of breeding so well defined
 for the specific purpose. that the amman
 will have a tendency to produce better individuals than itself Propotency is ob-
 tained by consistent breeding toward
 definite type :; nd therefore is to 'ie ex'
 pected most frequently among animals true 10 their breed type.
 In Judging class of cattle or inspect ing 2 single individual, one should first
 naxa a general survey of the aninlai examining the general features from distance and noting the general outline and typical beef form.
 When first approaching an animal. note the frort view and the features Of the head tad the width and depth or the chest On moving to ward the side. note the dent of the bcdy and the lowness of the flank
 The rear view will give the width os the back spring of .he ribs and thickness and , ,deyelopinent of the hind quarters, part icular the things and twist. s After 8 survey of the animal from short d;s- | tance d close inspection of the varions parts of the body should be made, begin- ming a the head.
 o,s.o l.aofpuere i1dginP work uslally should commence with the use | of the score card, after the various parts
 of the animal ~have been identhed ana the ise of the card has been expiaa@u. { One should make complete examination ! of the individual before the various c'i.N | are noted on the card. The score cara iS ! intended primarily for beginners, end < i to be used in learning the details of com i partive judging. Comparative judging 's employed exclusively in placing the eWar1 ] at public beef cattle shows Practice tests | may be confined to selecting the pest ih /, dividual in a class of cattle of the saaa- | age.
 /, As oae becomes more proficient. aniniais ! of different ages may be judged put ny sexes should oe kept separate. n epm- 1 parative judsing one must examine 'he
 various parts and make direct eonlI'lr'- 1 son. keeping in mind the parts whl'a are relatively the most important.
 1 The judge-te-he should gradually 7c-
 ouire facility in summarizing the total ol the o.ialificati tions Of each animal. Use or i the score card Is a step toward effi2iencs | in the difficult task of comparative Jude" 1 ing Only in close competition in comoara- | tive judging does the experienced iudse need to place side by side the smailts details However in many judging con tes.s this becomes necessary and t7 judge nay fiTaliy be required to n aKs his decision r2on relatively fine points. r Sample score cards for fat and feeder beef cattle and for breeding beef cattle together with model card for eompara' tive judging by class or team, conssitutf mart sf the material contained in re cent Farmers Bulletin issued by the de partraent of asrculture, entitled "Judg ing Pcef Cattle The q pages of tex discuss in poplar language the various features of judging beef cattle, and it con ltafns srgeest:ons regarding their scoring The tulletin may be had free upon 'e'
 quest.