Stock (animal)

“ The valuation of pet stock also varies according to the age, shape, color, and purity of breed, and the amount of intelligence or training possessed by the animal. The supply and demand also regulate the market price, as, for instance, I have known gold-fish of best size and color to be disposed of to dealers as low as two dollars per hundred in the months of June, July, and August, but during the months of October, November, and December the same quality of fish rose in price to ten and fifteen dollars per hundred. ”

“ Fortunately farmers sell to strangers more frequently than they buy of them, and when they seek new stock they deal largely with breeders, who, like themselves, are farmers and not given to the tricks of low and disreputable methods; nevertheless, every purchaser of stock should be familiar with animal form and able to recognize defects and faults when he sees them. This is as much his business as to breed, raise or feed the stock on his farm. ”

“ There was a jackass also running with the stock, yet I saw no young mules; and the dull and lifeless aspect of this animal gave no promise of an increase of his stock. There were thirty mares, and if even this number were employed in rearing mules, it would doubtless prove profitable; but this scrubby specimen of horses, which are propagated, are not likely to give much return for the trouble of looking after them. These animals subsist entirely upon grass, and very rarely get salt, as it is too costly at these interior places to be afforded for stock, except in very small quantities. ”

“ Furthermore, 24 productive females may wean from 1,000 to 1,250 young per year. Suppose you desire to sell 500 to 750 to laboratory use, 100 trios and 100 pairs for breeding stock and pets. That sells the 1,000 to 1,250. But, beginners who rush into that volume of production without looking to their markets, who expand without experience and business sense, play a losing game. Remember, that a large share of the current laboratory animal market is currently monopolized by the large commercials most anxious to sell you breeding stock. They are not creating markets for beginners. ”

“ This is an important fact, as the power of supporting these animals without artificial food will secure not only a clear profit to their owners, but a supply hereafter of animal food for the use of the settlement. The live stock which have been introduced is described as being, in several instances, of the very best quality, and, with very few exceptions, arising chiefly from neglect, all kinds of it have done well. The bullocks and sheep, even in the dry season, fatten upon the natural grasses and herbage. ”

“ Many persons hold that in the selection of a boar one of the principal points is size. They contend that size, in pigs especially, is imperative if a profitable return is to be made. This view may have arisen to a greater or lesser extent from the want of method and observation which is characteristic of so many stock owners. The one point which to them is of the greatest importance is the selling price of the fat or store animal sold being fully up to the average. Little or no thought is given to the value of the food eaten by each animal. ”

“ Right at the start we wish to emphasize two facts which are really fundamental and which are recognized by the most successful stock keepers. The first is this: It does not pay to keep scrub stock, animals which cannot under any conditions give the big returns. ”

“ Had the opossum raiser, during the low prices for this fur in 1907 and 1908, sold off his breeding stock at low prices, as he would have been compelled to do, he would not had a supply when the prices advanced in January, 1909.
Some farmers make the mistake of selling off all their stock when prices ease up, expecting to go into the raising again when a reaction takes place. This is not the way to make the most money; when a reaction comes, other farmers who have continued raising this certain animal, reap the harvest, selling to the market or to their neighbors at high prices. ”

“ It is not a good plan to stick to your own bucks too much in selecting the stock that is to be used in breeding. If there happens to be a good stud buck within shipping distance of your rabbitry, it is money well spent to ship your does to this buck, pay a service fee, and get the benefit of the better blood which such an animal will introduce into your stock. ”

“ For those who already have small animal and poultry stock, and merely wish to supplement such income, hamsters may offer an attractive addition to their set-up.
Operating on a strictly honest basis, the larger the hamstery the smaller the per cent of profit on investment, due to the fact that a larger per cent of increased production must depend upon laboratory markets, the lowest priced sales. A small hobby hamstery, 6 to 8 breeding females, with production sold for breeders and pets, brings the highest per cent of profit. ”

“ Whereas in the past the bulls and bears had regarded each other as friendly antagonists, the bulls now came to look upon the bears as the deadly enemies of bullish society, and for a time this animal was threatened with total extinction. Anyone discovered short of stocks was viewed in about the same light as one caught with stolen goods ”

“ There are hereditary troubles, however, that continue down through many generations. The narrow hock of the horse invites curb diseases; the narrow chest is a good breeding ground for tuberculosis [85] germs; straight pasterns are bad for the feet; poor conformation is not consistent with efficiency or easy functional activity.
These examples clearly show that form and type and physical characteristics have roles to play in animal economy and in health to which the wise stockman will give heed. ”

“ The regular use of Pratts Animal Regulator absolutely insures health and vigor in live stock of all kinds. It keeps healthy animals in the pink of condition; it quickly puts half-sick, unprofitable stock in the money-making class. ”

“ When thus gathered together, the animals required for any special purpose—fat bullocks for market, or cows and calves for branding—are ridden out of the mass by the stockmen on their well-trained horses, and collected in a separate herd.
There is no more interesting sight than this 'cutting out,' as it is called. The stockman rides into the mass of animals, which opens out uneasily as he enters. A touch of the stock-whip on the selected beast indicates him to the intelligent horse, whose rider practically leaves to him the rest of the work. ”

“ In shipping poultry the first thing the young poulterer should do is to establish a reputation among the first-class dealers in his vicinity. This can only be done by shipping first-class stock. Never kill a bird unless it is in good condition. Pick and dress them neatly, box them carefully, and they will always command a good price and a ready sale; while equally as good stock, slovenly and carelessly thrown together, will go begging. I have often seen good stock cut several cents per pound, owing to the shipper's carelessness. ”

“ Sometimes it is due to both weakness in breeding stock and improper feeding. One cannot feed unbalanced rations composed of green food and other cheap stuff without expecting trouble in raising your litters. There must be a balanced ration, as stated in the Chapters on Feeding, and the stock must have plenty to eat or they will fail to deliver the goods.
Convulsions often seize young stock and cause death. ”

“ Hats, lamps, shoes, boots, jewels, hosiery, glass, birds, mountebanks, newspapers, portable baths, guns, groceries, gloves, cutlery, false teeth, false beards, false eyes, false legs, tempt the adults. There are, however, no horses, cattle, sheep, or swine offered for sale, the live stock, consisting only of poultry, rabbits, pigeons, and Guinea-pigs. ”

“ There is really only one way to be safe in buying stock and that is to go to recognized breeders and pay them the price they ask for their best stock. This stock will be pedigreed and by paying an additional dollar you can have it registered in the breed book of your breed. ”

“ The ideas of Plato they declared existed only in our minds. Horse, man, and animal had no substantial existence but were phantasms of the soul. The Stoics were thus what we should call Conceptualists.
Comprehension too was used in a wider sense than that in which we have so far employed it. There was comprehension by the senses as of white and black, of rough and smooth, but there was also comprehension by the reason of demonstrative conclusions such as that the gods exist and that they exercise providence. ”

“ For one and the same power manifested itself in all ranks of nature, only at each stage on a higher level. To the vegetative powers of the plant the animal added sense and Impulse. It was in accordance therefore with the nature of an animal to obey the Impulses of sense, but to sense and Impulse man superadded reason so that when he became conscious of himself as a rational being, it was in accordance with his nature to let all his Impulses be shaped by this new and master hand. Virtue was therefore pre-eminently in accordance with nature. ”

“ Children commence trading very early. A five-year old boy will somehow get three or four strings of beads, and with them will buy a small chicken. After a few months of patient care, it is worth eight or ten strings, and his capital is doubled. He is soon able to buy a small pig, which follows him about like a dog, and sleeps in his house until, by and by, it fetches a good amount on the market. The proceeds of rat hunting, barter among the town boys, and further trade, have meanwhile increased his stock in trade. ”

“ When we say, 'All men are rational animals,' we have a true general proposition, because the predicate applies to the subject distributively, and not collectively. What we mean is that 'rational animal' may be affirmed of every individual in the class, man. But when we say 'All men are all rational animals,' the predicate no longer applies to the subject distributively, but only collectively. For it is obvious that 'all rational animals' cannot be affirmed of every individual in the class, man. What the proposition means is that the class, man, is co-extensive with the class, rational animal. ”

“ Out of the general ideas which nature imparts to us, reason was perfected about the age of fourteen, at the time when the voice—its outward and visible sign—attains its full development, and when the human animal is complete in other respects as being able to reproduce its kind. Thus reason which united us to the gods was not, according to the Stoics, a pre-existent principal, but a gradual development out of sense. It might truly be said that with them the senses were the intellect. ”

“ Market feeding means that the stock is intended for meat purposes, to be sold for that purpose to local markets or else to be used upon the table of the breeder. For this reason, a little different feeding is required than where the purpose is to mature breeding stock and merely keep them in good condition so long as they are used in the hutches. ”

“ When, for instance, we say 'Socrates is an animal,' 'Socrates is a man,' there is nothing in the proposition to show us whether the predicate is a genus or a species: for we have not here the relation of class to class, which gives us genus or species according to their relative extension, but the relation of a class to an individual. ”

“ The stock-raiser, or estancier, is the owner of a very extensive tract of pasture-land, and he leaves the animals to live upon it, feed themselves, and multiply at their will. The stock, even in the wildest and least populous regions, form small herds of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty head, which are made up of steers, cows, calves, and bulls; but are always composed of the same individuals, and always inhabit the same very limited region of the campo, and the animals pass their lives within this region without being confined by any inclosure. ”

“ It lets people know you have stock and you can always get good prices for your prize winners. Always enter as near a uniform lot as possible in singles, pairs or trios, or even larger pens.
While it costs more to produce fancy stock, still the higher prices you can get for it makes it pay. If you are raising only comparatively few pigs it might pay you to go in for fancy stock. Even if you have a large stock you can keep a few of your best specimens separate and give them little better attention. ”

“ This book covers fully the principles of breeding and feeding for both fat stock and dairying type. It tells of sheep and mutton raising, hot house lambs, the swine industry and the horse market. Finally, he tells of the preparation of stock for the market and how to prepare it so that it will bring a high market price. Live stock is the most important feature of farm life, and statistics show a production far short of the actual requirements. There are many problems to be faced in the profitable production of stock, and these are fully and comprehensively covered in Mr. ”

“ Good Baldwins, commanding from $2.50 to $3.50 per barrel, may be raised every year with the certainty of clockwork, if the owner only exercises proper diligence and care.
719. Rare Rodents.—Money in rats and mice! In killing them? No, in raising them. At the pet-stock{213} department and appendage of the poultry show in New York recently, rats and mice, white or finely marked, brought all the way from $1 to $12, according to the fineness of the colors. It will be a revelation to most farmers that there is money in creatures which they have hitherto regarded as pests to be put out of the way. ”