SUCCESS IN STOCK BREEDING.

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 9107, 2 October 1890, Page 4

SUCCESS IN STOCK BREEDING.

Success in any profession or business is the product of many factors. These when analysed are found to be made up of the minute matters of detail which are usually the hidden springs that, properly mastered and marshalled, lead to all honourable achievement, A man’s success in his chosen vocation is often attributed to some one or more striking traits of character. Is it not rather true that it is the reword honestly and honourably earned that comes to those who in love and power and a sound mind master details, secure discipline and knowledge, until thoroughly equipped for their calling they pluck the ripe fruit which has been alike an inspiration and incentive in all of the struggles that must precede the hour of triumph! Success is not secured by spasmodic effort. It does not come as a flash of light, but rather as the accumulation of long periods of patient endeavour. It has long been written that 1 Poets are born, not made,’ and one of the most eminent of breeders is reported to have said that this is equally true of all men who make a real success of stock breeding. However much stress ought to lay on this statement, all will admit that, poet or stock breeder, it is a good thing to be well born, that early associations, influences, training and heredity all have certain impress in one’s choice of a calling, and increase or lessen the probabilities of achievement to a certain extent. Yet we ‘judge of men by their own deeds and do not make the accident of birth the standard of their merit.’

A genuine love for the work is one of the foundation elements of success in stock breed r ing. No man can be above his business, nor attempt to discharge the duties of calling with the feeling that he is sacrificing his dignity and manliness, and expect success. The true stockbreeder, him to the manner born, do not look upon his calling as menial op Jacking in importance and dignity. He looks back over a long line of illustrious names from Abraham of Bethel to this yeur of grace, and finds himself engaged in an employment which has occupied the attention and ability of some of the wisest and best men of past generations. His calling need proro no bar to.bis progress if he, like those who are his exemplars, shall prove that he has the qualities of kingship. Man’s employment or profession does not glorify him. It is man’s supremest dignity to glorify his employment and transfigure the plainest of occupations by patient, constant devotion and service. Those who by patient continuance in well doing gain glory and honour reap the truest successes. Success m any calling is largely due to the fact that it has been pursued, not from a slavish hunger after emoluments, but from a genuine love for it, and the satisfaction of discharging its duties in an efficient way. A ploughman, if he is worth his wages, likes to see the furrow straight and smoothly turned ; the stonemason likes to see his work justified by the plumbline and spirit level, and it is not too much to say that in all the walks of life almost every man who earns distinction seeks >ind finds his reward far more in hia work than in hia pay. A thorough knowledge of the business is essential to success in stock breeding; such knowledge as comes to those whose hearts are in their work from study, observation, and more than all from actual experience. The men who trust to their theories alone invariably fail. The pure theorist in stock breeding will write long and learnedly , he usually thinks on his favourite topic, but if be the owner of an unfortunate herd it will give unmistakable evidence that hia precept and his practice are as wide apart as the night and the day. In this business, as in all others, one has greatly the advantage whose childhood and youth have been amid such surroundings as have developed and strengthened alove for animals and their care, and whose training has laid the foundation of success early ip life. The apprenticeship must he served in every calling sooner or later to achieve the beat results. There is no exception in this business. Merchant princes are usually the men who began in boyhood bv sweeping the stores and have gone up step by step through all the gradesef promotion to their present proud positions. In stock breeding the same law obtains. The practical details o! selection, feeding, management, &c,, must all be mastered. Here, as elsewhere, the man who evades the tiresome drudgery incident to the laying of sure foundations and by a kind of mental gymnastics endeavours to reach the summit at a single bound is sure to fall and be badly cnpoled by such an effort. There is no royal road to success in this business, It does not bow always to the behests of science.

The man who sjives so little personal attention to his animals, few in number perhaps, that he is compelled to brand them or mark their stalls by name to identify them, and who has not trained himself to be quick to notice the evidences of thrift or decline, to observe the things that need attention and to know when, how and why to give it, will find himself seriously crippled in his efforts. He may he a good fellow and know a great deal, bat he is not built the right way for a successful stock breeder. He will find he needs to know the alphabet of the business. Not all men—comparatively few-have this training in youth. It is a great mistake for a man without this training to embark too extensive y m this business at the outset Success will be sooner achieved by making haste slowly, by beginning with a few animals, and, as the details are mastered, enlarging the base of operations. It is a mistake often made for men to venture too much in a business of which they know very little and to think that theoretical knowledge will bridge over the lack of practical training. It never can do bo. Enthusiasm in tms pursuit is a good thing ; but it must be balanced by sound judgment and held in check, or it merges into crankiness, than which nothing is more conducive to failure.