Show four points in A noted breeder ol 01 live stock de dares that there are four features ot the live stock business that should re belve the attention of breeders name ly environment continuity utility and crossing too many lose sight ot en viron ment catch sight of something that pleases them and launch out on a series of breeding episodes the advice to select the breed you are most in love with is not a good one for it often happens that the breed you like Is illy adapted to any certain location the matter of continuity Is one that Is not noticed on this side ot the water but Is kept in sight by the british breeder he first finds out what his environments are and selects his breed of stock to fit it and then keeps on breeding in the same general way and passes his process on to his sons and his grandsons in england it is not uncommon to find a tarn on which one kind of sheep has been bred for a century and what is true of sheep is also true of other stock utility ta a point that should not be lost sight of but should be kept before the breeder as the main thing be la working for in the matter of sheep breeding the work Is to get an animal that will give the greatest amount of high priced mutton and the most pos sible of the highest priced wool tak ing into consideration the kind of food furnished and the care necessary crossing is a matter that should be given more weight than it receives on cross that of good ewes of one breed with a good ram of another breed to get lambs for market Is the only kind of crossing that should be done the mistake Is made of con the mongrel breed using the progeny of the first closs not for mar ket mutton but for breeders the re suits can never be good in the long run the only advantage of the cross Is to get lambs with excellent feeding qualities harry osborne cerrogordo Cerro Gordo co la why british stocks excel the climatic conditions of great britain in the estimation of their people are admirably suited to the production of first class livestock be ing a comparatively small country and totally surrounded by water the con dillons are fairly favorable tor a rather uniform temperature this Is especially true of the greater part of england in scotland especially the northern part the winters are cold but the summers are also cool thus excellent for grazing purposes as the animals are neither troubled with a hot sun nor with insect pests the atmosphere as a rule contains a great deal of moisture which Is claimed to have a very beneficial in fluence on the coat of hair inducing a heavy growth of fine mossy hair which adds to the general appearance of certain breeds of animals and lastly there is another feature which must be considered in this connection the farmers in all parts of great britain are almost obliged to follow some phase of livestock farming as a means of livelihood thus with their small farms and high rents to pay the pure bred animals especially those of high individual excellence and merit have invariably proven to be the most profitable water and fat formation there Is a notion to the effect that drinking much water makes fat and some people that have the tendency to form fat are cautioned against the practice according to all In eions that have been made the opposite is the case it very wet foods are given fattening animals and it an ex amount of water Is drunk the fattening process Is retarded on this account it Is never advisable to give fattening stock salty foods that would lead to the consumption st a very large amount of water or to keep them in a high temperature which also has the effect of making them drink more water than is needed for the tion of food when animals are in a high temperature the drinking of wa ter is a provision of nature to keep down the temperature of the body to its normal point perspiration is the process of working off the surplus heat which it left in the body would result in heat prostration ie ani mal should drink enough water to en able it to properly assimilate its food S ze of feeding herds the university of illinois sent out a query as to size of herds of cattle be ing fed tor market As to the replies the says of feeders who anaw er this question about one third feed from 25 to 50 head in one yard and one third from 50 to of the remainder about one halt keep less than 25 and one halt more than head in one yard it should be added that the replies in most cases corre spond to the total number of cattle handled by the correspondent that is to say as a rule all the cattle are fed in one yard and the exeen oual instances are those in which more than cattle are fed in which case the number recommended is usually head or less one of the most successful cattle feeders in illinois reports that two carloads should be the maximum number fed in on lot and that one load is preferable hia thought being that cattle are more quiet in small numbers aad in uniform grades farm notes the management of stock to secure the highest profit does not require the highest feeding but rather such a tern of feeding as will insure contina ous growth unprofitable stock does not feces barlly belong to any particular class kind or breed but it is rather owin to the demerits of the individual ani mals composing the stock of the farm overcrowded stock must necessarily be cramped and cannot receive proper attention nor sufficient teed and con will not mal e the growth it should nor he in a marketable ceniu tion |