Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-01-16
GROWING FOOD-ON THE FARM; IN
THE YARD
Especial
Is 1t Worth While Travelling a
Mile to Save Two Years Time?
o Grades-Why o
IN Breeding

Tom Jones and John Brown live
on adjoining farms. Each of them
owns a scrub COW. The county agent
gave them United States Depart
ment of Agriculture bulletin on grad
ing up by the use of better sires, and
they have decided to try it.
Joe Smith, who lives a mile down
the road, owns three-quarters grade
Shorthorn bull. The nearest pure
bred Shorthorn bull is a herd header
at the Glendale Farm, seven miles
away. Now, there isn't a great deal
tween a three-quarters blood and a
purebred. Tom Jones. being busy.
patronizes Joe Smiths three-quarters
Shorthorn bull. John Brown, re-
Numbering a copy-book maxim that
whatever is worth doing is worth
doing we'll, takes the trouble and the
time to patronize the purebred bull
at the Glendale Farm.
There would not seem to be very
much difference in the offspring
But, in actual fact, John Brown ac-
complishes in two crosses a result
that is little better than Tom Jones
gets in five crosses. In about four
years John Brown has an animal of
a fraction higher grade than Tom
| In oh
There may be no way to show it
automatically. but every reasonable
man knows that the difference be-
tween four years and Is years is
greater than the difference between
a mile and seven miles.
Or, put it in somewhat different
form. Say that both Tom Jones and
John Brown own a number of scrub
cows and desire to buy bulls. Jones,
being penny-wise, buys a three-quar-
tiers Shorthorn for $3.50. Brown pays
$500 for a purebred Shorthorn. Most
men will agree that the difference
between four years and Is years is
greater than the difference between
$3.50 and $500.
The thing needs little diagram
ing to make the differences stand out.
Here is what John Brown did by
breeding his scrub COW to the pure
bred bull:
plus equals l. divided by 2,
equals ".
i John Browns calf was half Short
horn and half scrub.
Here is what Tom Jones did by
breeding his scrub COW to the three
quarters bull:
Y plus 0 equals X divided by 2,
equals ~.
Tom Jones calf was three-eights
Shorthorn and five-eighths scrub. Not
much difference in the first genera
tion-but wait. Using those heifer
calves as breeding stock and mating
them with the same kind of bulls,
here is what happens.
John Brown gets plus " which
equals "; divided by 2, equals Y
Tom Jones gets y plus rs, equals
9-8; divided by 2. equals 9-16.
John Browns calf in the second
generation outgrades Tom Jones' calf
in the second generation by ss Short
Z horn blood.
And Tom Jones has to breed three
other generations of cattle (using
the same kind of sire) to bring his
cattle up to approximately the same
grade as John Browns second gener-
alton of offspring. In the meantime,
using the same kind of bull, John
Brown has graded his cattle up till
the offspring of the original scrub
cows contain SLAP Shorthorn blood
and only 1872 scrub blood. Tom
Jones' cattle. the same generation,
contain 93-12S Shorthorn blood and
35-12S scrub blood. Jones' herd,
after Is years of work, still retains
35 times as much scrub blood as John
Browns cattle--all because. Is years
ago, John Brown took the time and
the trouble to travel seven miles in
stead of half mile. or saw his way
clear to spend $500 instead of $3.50.
The cost of bulls varies greatly, of