Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

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524 HENRY BAIRD FAVILL
and it is hard to tell how much to pay for a bull, how good
a bull you ought to have, or what represents a given quality
of a bull. That is just as difficult for me to decide as it is
for you. The question before us is one of intelligent thought
to be sure, but it is also a question of great doubt, and you
have no more doubt in your mind than I have in mine, when
you have to buy a bull, or when I have to buy a bull for my
herd. It is a serious, painstaking question and demands
thought.
Is there a way to proceed in the matter that is safe and
judicious? I often recall my old experience with purchases
of bulls. The first bull calf I ever bought cost me $i,ooo,
and the next one cost me $300, because his dam had not
made a large record at that time. But when this cow came
to herself, she became one of the greatest cows of the breed.
I am not at all sorry that I purchased the second bull, which
only cost me $300. I can't say that he was better than the
first, for that is a thing which is hard to determine. The
market is peculiar. I am only calling your attention to the
irregularities which will help you to see that we are dealing
with a difficult proposition. Sometimes a person gets disgusted
with the whole business, because there is so little
certainty about it.
I have a bull calf in my herd, for instance, which I value
at $500. I sold his older brother for a much smaller price.
Why?
Because in the interval the dam of this young calf
has made a larger record. For this reason he is worth five
or six times as much as his brother was worth a year ago.
Don't misunderstand me. I am not making fun of the dairy
industry. I am calling your attention to the conditions
which we can't grasp. So this brings us dawn to a difficult
question.
We are agreed that we ought to improve our dairy cattle
we are all agreed that we ought to get as good a bull to put
on our stock as we can get, and as good as we ought to have
but the question is. How good a bull ought we to have?