BUYING CATTLE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4719, 2 July 1924, Page 2

BUYING CATTLE.

LESSONS FROM PEDIGREE SALES. HIGH STANDARD WANTED. The many sales of pedigree cattle that have been held of late have conveyed important lessons. The most striKing lesson is that mere paper pedigrees count for nothing in the estimation of the buyer of to-day. The animal must have satisfactory production backing or ue of very outstanding type to command a good price. Big money can be secured fur the exceptional animals. Indeeu, never was there such reward for tlie men who can produce strains of hign prouuctive capacity or of outstanding breed quality, but particularly whe.e productive power is combined with breed quality. Herd-testing is having its effect, and the producing strain is being rightly appreciated. Another lesson is that no matter how good the backing a pedigree animal must look a pedigree animal and be brought into the sale-ring in proper condition. Animals have been sacrificed because of poor condition, and animals have realised' more than they were worth because of the manner in which they were presented for sale. Again, farmers in general have come to realise that a pedigree animal of poor butterfat backing may not be as useful to them as a good grade. Pedigree animals arc not purchased now-a-days because they look better than grades, but because it is desired by their means to raise the standard of the herd. Therfore the pedigree animal must have better productive capacity than the grade, and now-a-days the capacity of grade cows is being widely discovered. This is the obvious reason why many a purebred cow offered for sale nas not appealed to farmers ready to purchase a good pedigree animat-at a fair price. The pedigree cull is little if any better than the grade cull. Other lessons of the sales are ( that it pays to advertise, and it pays to treat clients frankly and generously. Tlie pedigree breeder with a big outlook and who can deliver the goods will wtn every time. Generally speaking, tlie pedigree breeder is finding that it is a wiser world he has to cater to than was once the case, but that if tiie buyer is more critical, the rewaid is greater than ever before for the man who can deliver the goods.—Dairyfarmer.