PEDIGREE STOCK.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8089, 9 February 1887, Page 6

PEDIGREE STOCK.

la the breeding of pedigree stock (writes a correspondent of the Live Stock Journal ) X have no doubt many of us act in a way quite warranting condemnation; the difficulty is to instil into our minds the way in which to di better. . The breeding of shorthorns seems to me to be attended with rather more difficulty than is the,case with perhaps any other breed; it is a sort of compound breed, some aiming at a beef breed, and others making the dairy the principal object. These objects come in conflict frequently, especially in the case of such o£ us as lack natural perception in cattle. I should not imagine that anything like half of the bull calves bom in herd-book herds of Shorthorns are steered. In making such a calculation, you must keep in view that very few steers are made in the herds of the more costly animals; I doubt if a considerable number of breeders have made a steer in all their experience. I am well aware that many bulls which come to be offered for sale, either at home sales or combination sales, do not appear to the ordinary observer to be suitable for being kept as bulls; of coarse some bulls offered for sale are thoroughly bad. But if the breeder of cattle were carefully examined at home, we might find that some of his best cows were the dams of ordi-nary-looking bulls, and which, if kept for a little time, may, or may not, improve into really good bulls, but will undoubtedly prove good sires. We cannot tell whilst the calf is young which is to be the good or the bad. and it is frequently too late when we do find we are the owner of a bad one. 1 think the real cure lies in trying to have all our cows sufficiently good to be likely to produce a good calf; we should aim high, and hope then to improve the average quality of our herds. I have, in my own experience, seen shabby-looking calves turn out the best of the season. In my own case,' I try to keep only the best heifers to breed from, and when I have to buy a- cow, Ido my best to buy only such as are better than those I have, and one which I would consider good enough to breed a bull for use in my own herd. I have no doubt that breeders of pedigree stock will have to bear a share of the low ■ prices going for everything; we should take the opportunity to do our utmost to keep up the prices by improving the animals we have to sell.