SELLING CATTLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 November 1940, Page 9

SELLING CATTLE

VALUE OF REPUTATION. In an article discussing breeding and breeders in The British Friesian Journal it is pointed out that many herd owners believe, or affect to do so, that all pedigree cattle have much about the same monetary value, and that the only reason why one man obtains higher prices for his cattle than does another is because the fortunate one • has a name.”

Actually this is correct, the truth being, the writer of the article states, that one has a reputation for breeding cattle of a high standard of all-round excellence, a distinction which ihe vendor of the ordinary animals at ordinary prices cannot appreciate. The complaining critic entirely fails to understand that a high price is paid for an animal because of what it is and what it should breed —not merely on account of its appearance.. A breeder only obtains a “name” or a reputation when his animals possess all the recommendations and can be relied upon to leave progeny with similar virtues, of which appearance is not so important as it was. At one time appearance was almost the only guide. Now it is inadequate and often misleading, seeing that modern pedigree includes performance.

The man who says “My cow would have made as much as his if I had his name” really means, although he would not admit it, that if his animal boasted the ancestors, the inherited milk and butterfat, the breed character and the general excellence of the other one, its value would have been similar.