DUAL-PURPOSE AND BEEF CATTLE Comprising Lessons IV-VI, Inclusive, Animal Husbandry Extension Course for Boys and Girls Clubs CARSON CITY, NEVADA 1 There are three elementary Extension courses in Agriculture and Home Economics proposed by the Agricultural Extension Division, University of Nevada, cooperating with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, as follows: 16-Lesson Course for Girls Home Economics Club; 16-Lesson Course for Boys and Girls Animal Husbandry Club. These lessons are each supposed to cover two weeks' work for club members. Any boy or girl may enroll in two clubs and complete the year's work in both very easily. It is especially desirable that those who undertake any of the animal husbandry projects take the gardening club course as well, since there is an advantage in growing a part or all the feeds for the pigs, sheep, calves, or poultry chosen for project work. All New members may begin any of these courses prior to April 1 of each year, but will require a permit to begin later than that date. the work must be completed by December 1 of the given year. course in Animal Husbandry will be substantially as follows: SHEEP--Farm Management of Sheep. XII XIII XIV XV SWINE-Swine Management. The SHEEP-Range Management of Sheep. HORSES-Breeds and Their Origin. HORSES-Management of Horses. POULTRY-Chickens and Their Management. XVI. . POULTRY-Turkeys and Other Fowl. In connection with the above course in Animal Husbandry, club members are urged to put their knowledge to practical use by joining one of the following club projects: Pig Club Sheep Club Dairy Club Poultry Club Home Buttermaking Club In these projects the boys and girls raise pigs, sheep, calves, poultry, or make butter for profit, and compete for prizes under rules and regulations prescribed. The Dairy Club is the only exception. This club project (Bulletin 2) provides for a four months' preliminary course in the care and handling of milk, the use of the Babcock tester, and herd record work. It is open to boys 13 years old and older. The course leads to a certificate as qualified cow tester, and to contracts with farmers for testing a limited number of dairy cows, charging a prescribed fee therefor. There is a fine opportunity in these clubs for boys and girls to lay the foundation of both a theoretical and practical knowledge of home economics, gardening, and live stock of the utmost value; and, in the several club projects, to earn real money. LESSON IV Dual-Purpose Cattle-Shorthorns, Polled Durhams, and Red Polls In the preceding lessons (Bul. 1) we have traced the origin of cattle, and how selective breeding has developed two distinct types-dairy and beef-with an intermediate type called dual-purpose cattle. The history and characteristics of the five great breeds of dairy cattle have been given, leaving dual-purpose and beef cattle for this and the next two lessons. We have also learned why, in the nature of things, strictly dualpurpose cattle can neither be so good for dairy purposes as the dairy type, nor so good for beef as the beef type. Theoretically, the milk plus the beef, of the dual-purpose animal, should offset the value of the dairy cow for dairy purposes, or the beef animal for beef purposes. In practice this is not true. Dairying is far more profitable with strictly dairy cattle than it is with dual-purpose cattle (with the beef added). On the other hand, the beef producer makes more profit with the strictly beef breeds than with dual-purpose cattle (with the milk added). The real field for dual-purpose cattle is the farm, where a few cows are desired merely to supply the household with milk, and where the calves are to be raised for beef. It is not to be understood that all dairy Shorthorns, or Polled Durhams, or Red Polls are essentially inferior to the Holsteins, Jerseys, Guernseys, Ayrshires, or Brown Swiss for strictly dairy purposes. It means, instead, that most dual-purpose cattle are very much inferior to cattle of the strictly dairy breeds for dairying. But, as stated in a preceding lesson, some of the dual-purpose cattle are of the dairy, rather than the dual-purpose type, and these, while called dual-purpose by reason of breed name, are to all intents and purposes dairy, and not dual-purpose, animals. The majority of cattle used for dairy purposes in Nevada are grade. Shorthorns. Fully nine out of ten of them are dual-purpose, or beef type, with the tenth possessing the dairy conformation and qualities. A carefully selected herd of such last-mentioned high-producing dairy Shorthorns, for example, would likely equal, or surpass, in milk production a herd of Jerseys or Holsteins that is not quite so carefully selected. But with equal selection the latter herds would surpass the Shorthorns. So we approach this fact, namely: That while breed names tend to classify general characteristics and qualities, such as dairying, dualpurpose, or beef, the individual animal is the deciding factor in each particular instance, and its conformation and record of production determines the class to which it really belongs. RED POLLS (See Fig. 2) History: This breed is supposed to have originated in Norfolk and Suffolk, England, where it has been known for about a century and a half. Importations into the United States began about fifty years ago, although it is probable that the so-called "muley" cows of the Eastern States are descendants of prior colonial importations. There are a few Red Polls in Nevada, one interesting herd being in Mason Valley. Characteristics: The Red Polls are of medium weight, the cows ranging from 1,000 to 1,400 pounds. They are extremely docile and intelligent, but lack the nervous activity of the dairy breeds. The prevailing color is red. In appearance they incline to the beef type, blocky, round, full and compact. The poll is distinguished from that of the Polled Durhams by its high and comparatively sharp crown surmounted with a tuft of hair. POLLED DURHAMS History: The Polled Durham is substantially the Shorthorn without horns. Its ancestry is involved in the story of the Shorthorn breed. It is the only breed of cattle which may be said to have originated in the United States. The old familiar "muley" cow of the native stock of the country was likely used to assist in the process of polling. The breed, if it may be so called, originated in Ohio, but is now widely distributed in the middle West. Characteristics: Other than in the absence of horns, Polled Durhams conform to the general characteristics of the Shorthorns. The poll is dome-shaped, rather than pointed as with the Red Polls. DAIRY SHORTHORNS The story of the Shorthorn breed will be given in the next chapter. "The Shorthorns are a beef breed, says Alvord," and have been so for generations. They are classed among the beef breeds at all the great expositions, and, as a breed, do not pretend to be general-purpose |