Part 9

Without pushing this method of judging of the good milking qualities of cows into the objectionable extreme to which it was carried by its originator, it may be safely asserted that the milk-mirror forms an important additional mark or point for distinguishing good milkers; and it may be laid down as a rule that, in the selection of milch cows, as well as in the choice of young animals for breeders, the milk-mirror should, by all means, be examined and considered; but that we should not limit or confine ourselves exclusively to it, and that other and long-known marks should be equally regarded.

There are cases, however, where a knowledge and careful examination of the form and size of the mirror become of the highest importance. It is well known that certain signs or marks of great milkers are developed, only as the capacities of the animal herself are fully and completely developed by age. The milk-veins, for instance, are never so large and prominent in heifers and young cows as in old ones, and the same may be said of the udder, and of the veins of the udder and perineum; all of which it is of great importance to observe in the selection of milch cows. Those signs, then, which in cows arrived at maturity are almost sufficient in themselves to warrant a conclusion as to their merits as milkers, are, to a great extent, wanting in younger animals, and altogether in calves, as to which there is often doubt whether they shall be raised; and here a knowledge of the form of the mirror is of immense advantage, since it gives, at the outset and before any expense is incurred, a somewhat reliable means of judging of the future milking capacities of the animal; or, if a male, of the probability of his transmitting milking qualities to his offspring.

It will be seen, from an examination of the points of a good milch cow that, though the same marks which indicate the greatest milking qualities may not always indicate the greatest aptitude to fatten, yet that the signs which denote good fattening qualities are included among the signs favorable to the production of milk; such as soundness of constitution, marked by good organs of digestion and respiration fineness and mellowness of the skin and hair, quietness of disposition--which inclines the animal to rest and lie down while chewing the cud--and other marks which are relied on by graziers in selecting animals to fatten.

In buying dairy stock the farmer generally finds it for his interest to select young heifers, as they give the promise of longer usefulness. But it is often the case that older cows are selected with the design of using them for the dairy for a limited period, and then feeding them for the butcher. In either case, it is advisable, as a rule, to choose animals in low or medium condition. The farmer cannot commonly afford to buy fat; it is more properly his business to make it, and to have it to sell. Good and well-marked cows in poor condition will rapidly gain in flesh and products when removed to better pastures and higher keeping, and they cost less in the original purchase.

It is, perhaps, superfluous to add that regard should be had to the quality of the pasturage and keeping which a cow has previously had, as compared with that to which she is to be subjected. The size of the animal should also be considered with reference to the fertility of the pastures into which she is to be put. Small or medium-sized animals accommodate themselves to ordinary pastures far better than large ones. Where a very large cow will do well, two small ones will usually do better; while the large animal might fail entirely where two small ones would do well. It is better to have the whole herd, so far as may be, uniform in size; for, if they vary greatly, some may get more than they need, and others will not have enough. This, however, cannot always be brought about.

Crossing and Breeding

The raising of cattle has now become a source of profit in many sections,--to a greater extent, at least, than formerly--and it becomes a matter of great practical importance to our farmers to take the proper steps to improve them. Indeed, the questions--what are the best breeds, and what are the best crosses, and how shall I improve my stock--are now asked almost daily; and their practical solution would add many thousand dollars to the aggregate wealth of the farmers of the country, if they would all study their own interests.

The time is gradually passing away when the intelligent practical farmer will be willing to put his cows to any bull, simply because his services may be had for twenty-five cents; for, even if the progeny is to go to the butcher, the calf sired by a pure-bred bull--particularly of a race distinguished for fineness of bone, symmetry of form, and early maturity--will bring a much higher price at the same age than a calf sired by a scrub. Blood has a money value, which will, sooner or later, be generally appreciated.

The first and most important object of the farmer is to get the greatest return in money for his labor and his produce; and it is for his interest to obtain an animal--a calf, for example--that will yield the largest profit on the outlay. If a calf, for which the original outlay was five dollars, will bring at the same age and on the same keep more real net profit than another, the original outlay for which was not twenty-five cents, it is certainly for the farmer's interest to make the heavier original outlay and thus secure the superior animal. Setting all fancy aside, it is merely a question of dollars and cents; but one thing is certain--and that is, that no farmer can afford to keep poor stock. It eats as much, and requires nearly the same amount of care and attention, as stock of the best quality; while it is equally certain that stock of ever so good a quality, whether grade, native, or thorough-bred, will be sure to deteriorate and sink to the level of poor stock by neglect and want of proper attention.

How, then, is our stock to be improved? Not, certainly, by that indiscriminate crossing, with a total disregard of all well-established principles, which has thus far marked our efforts with foreign stock, and which is one prominent reason why so little improvement has been made in our dairies; nor by leaving all the results to chance, when, by a careful and judicious selection, they may be within our own control.

We want cattle for distinct purposes, as for milk, beef, or labor. In a large majority of cases--especially in the dairy districts, at least, comprising the Eastern and Middle States--the farmer cares more for the milking qualities of his cows, especially for the quantity they give, than for their fitness for grazing, or aptness to fatten. These latter points become more important in the Western and some of the Southern States, where much greater attention is paid to breeding and to feeding, and where comparatively slight attention is given to the productions of the dairy. A stock of cattle which would suit one farmer might be wholly unsuited to another, and in such particular case the breeder should have some special object in view, and select his animals with reference to it.

There are, however, some well-defined general principles that apply to breeding everywhere, and which, in many cases, are not thoroughly understood. To these attention will now be directed.

The first and most important of the laws to be considered in this connection is that of similarity. It is by virtue of this law that the peculiar characters, properties, and qualities of the parents--whether external or internal, good or bad, healthy or diseased--are transmitted to their offspring. This is one of the plainest and most certain of the laws of nature. The lesson which it teaches may be stated in five words:--Breed only from the best.

Judicious selection is indispensable to success in breeding, and this should have regard to every particular--general appearance, length of limb, shape of carcass, development of chest; in cattle, to the size, shape, and position of the udder, thickness of skin, touch, length and texture of hair, docility, and all those points which go to make up the desirable animal.

Not only should care be exercised to avoid structural defects, but especially to secure freedom from hereditary diseases; as both defects and diseases appear to be more easily transmissible than desirable qualities. There is, oftentimes, no obvious peculiarity of structure or appearance which suggests the possession of diseases or defects which are transmissible; and for this reason, special care and continued acquaintance are requisite in order to be assured of their absence in breeding animals; but such a tendency, although invisible or inappreciable to careless observers, must still, judging from its effects, have as real and certain an existence as any peculiarity of form or color.

In neat cattle, hereditary diseases do not usually show themselves at birth; and sometimes the tendency remains latent for many years, perhaps through one or two generations, and afterward breaks out with all its former severity. The diseases which are found hereditary in cattle are scrofula, consumption, dysentery, diarrhoea, rheumatism, and malignant tumors. As these animals are less exposed to the exciting causes of disease, and less liable to be overtasked or subjected to violent changes of temperature, or otherwise put in jeopardy, their diseases are not so numerous as those of the horse, and what they have are less violent, and generally of a chronic character.

With regard to hereditary diseases, it is eminently true that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." As a general and almost invariable rule, animals possessing either defects or a tendency to disease, should not be employed for breeding. If, however, for special reasons it seems desirable to breed from one which has some slight defect of symmetry, or a faint tendency to disease--although for the latter it is doubtful whether the possession of any good qualities can fully compensate--it should be mated with one which excels in every respect in which it is itself deficient, and on no account with one which is near of kin to it.

There is another law, by which that of similarity is greatly modified--the law of Variation or divergence.

All animals possess a certain flexibility or pliancy of organization, which renders them capable of change to a greater or less extent. When in a state of nature, variations are comparatively slow and infrequent; but when in a state of domestication they occur much oftener and to a much greater extent. The greater variability in the latter case is doubtless owing, in some measure, to our domestic productions' being reared under conditions of life not so uniform as, and different from, those to which the parent species was exposed in a state of nature.

Among what are usually reckoned the more active causes of variation may be named climate, food, and habit. Animals in a cold climate are provided with a thicker covering of hair than in warmer ones. Indeed, it is said that in some of the tropical provinces of South America, there are cattle which have an extremely rare and fine fur, in place of the ordinary pile of hair. The supply of food, whether abundant or scanty, is one of the most efficient causes of variation known to be within the control of man. A due consideration of the natural effects of climate and food is a point worthy the careful attention of the stock-husbandman. If the breeds employed be well adapted to the situation, and the capacity of the soil be such as to feed them fully, profit may be safely anticipated. Animals are to be regarded as machines for converting herbage into money.

The bestowal of food sufficient, both in amount and quality, to enable animals to develop all the excellencies inherent in them, and yield all the profit of which they are capable, is something quite distinct from undue forcing of pampering. The latter process may produce wonderful animals to look at, but neither useful nor profitable ones, and there is danger of thus producing a most undesirable variation, since in animals the process may be carried far enough to produce barrenness. Instances are not wanting, particularly among the more recent improved short-horns, of impotency among the males and of barrenness among the females; and in some cases where the latter have borne calves, they have failed to secrete sufficient milk for their nourishment. Impotency in bulls of various breeds has, in many instances, occurred from too high feeding, especially when connected with a lack of sufficient exercise. A working bull, though perhaps not so pleasing to the eye as a fat one, is a surer stock-getter; and his progeny is more likely to inherit full health and vigor.

Habit has a decided influence toward producing variations. We find in domestic animals that use--or the demand created by habit--is met by a development or change in the organization adapted to the requirement. For instance, with cows in a state of nature, or where required only to suckle their young, the supply of milk is barely fitted to the requirement. If more is desired, and the milk is drawn completely and regularly, the yield is increased and continued longer. By keeping up the demand there is induced, in the next generation, a greater development of the secreting organs, and more milk is given. By continuing the practice, by furnishing the needful conditions of suitable food and the like, and by selecting in each generation those animals showing the greatest tendency toward milk, a breed specially adapted for the dairy may be established. It is just by this mode that the Ayrshires have, within the past century, been brought to be what they are--a breed giving more good milk upon a certain amount of food than any other.

It is a fact too well established to be controverted, that the first male produces impressions upon subsequent progeny by other males. To what extent this principle holds, it is impossible to say. Although the instances in which it is known to be of a very marked and obvious character may be comparatively few, yet there is ample reason to believe that, although in a majority of cases the effect may be less noticeable, it is not less real; and it therefore demands the special attention of breeders. The knowledge of this law furnishes a clue to the cause of many of the disappointments of which practical breeders often complain, and of many variations otherwise unaccountable, and it suggests particular caution as to the first male employed in the coupling of animals--a matter which has often been deemed of little consequence in regard to cattle, inasmuch as fewer heifers' first calves are reared, than those are which are borne subsequently.

The phenomenon--or law, as it is sometimes called--of atavism, or ancestral influence, is one of considerable practical importance, and well deserves the careful attention of the breeder of farm stock.

Every one is aware that it is by no means unusual for a child to resemble its grandfather, or grandmother, or even some ancestor still more remote, more than it does either its own father or mother. The same occurrence is found among our domestic animals, and oftener in proportion as the breeds are crossed or mixed up. Among our common stock of neat cattle, or natives--originating, as they did, from animals brought from England, Scotland, Denmark, France, and Spain, each possessing different characteristics of form, color, and use, and bred, as our common stock has usually been, indiscriminately together, with no special object in view, with no attempt to obtain any particular type or form, or to secure adaptation for any particular purpose--frequent opportunities are afforded of witnessing the results of this law of hereditary transmission. So common, indeed, is its occurrence, that the remark is often made, that, however good a cow may be, there is no telling beforehand what sort of a calf she may have. The fact is sufficiently obvious, that certain peculiarities often lie dormant for a generation or two and then reappear in subsequent progeny. Stockmen often speak of it as "breeding back," or "crying back."

The lesson taught by this law is very plain. It shows the importance of seeking thorough-bred or well-bred animals; and by these terms are simply meant such as are descended from a line of ancestors in which for many generations the desirable forms, qualities, and characteristics have been uniformly shown. In such a case, even if ancestral influence does come in play, no material difference appears in the offspring, the ancestors being all essentially alike. From this standpoint we best perceive in what consists the money value of a good "pedigree." This is valuable, in proportion as it shows an animal to be descended, not only from such as are purely of its own race or breed, but also from such individuals of that breed as were specially noted for the excellencies for which that particular breed is esteemed.

Probably the most distinctly marked evidence of ancestral influence among us, is to be found in the ill-begotten, round-headed calves, not infrequently dropped by cows of the common mixed kind, which, if killed early, make very blue veal, and if allowed to grow up, become exceedingly profitless and unsatisfactory beasts; the heifers being often barren, the cows poor milkers, the oxen dull, mulish beasts, yielding flesh of very dark color, of ill flavor and destitute of fat.

The relative influence of the male and female parents upon the characteristics of progeny has long been a fruitful subject of discussion among breeders. It is found in experience that progeny sometimes resembles one parent more than the other--sometimes there is an apparent blending of the characteristics of both--sometimes a noticeable dissimilarity to either, though always more or less resemblance somewhere--and sometimes the impress of one may be seen upon a portion of the organization of the offspring, and that of the other parent upon another portion; yet we are not authorized from such discrepancies to conclude that it is a matter of chance; for all of nature's operations are conducted in accordance with fixed laws, whether we be able fully to discover them or not. The same causes always produce the same results. In this case, not less than in others, there are, beyond all doubt, certain fixed laws; and the varying results which we see are easily and sufficiently accounted for by the existence of conditions or modifying influences not fully open to our observation.