Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-01-27
Prolonged Dairy Tests.

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he happens to be a better bull 70 bring
forward the characteristic forces of
that particular COW. A high order of
individual dairy capacity is important
In every COW that is 10 be bred rom.
Even IL not of immediate effect IN one
daughter, in whom she is displaced by
more dominant influences, another
daughter by a different sire may take
her Impress. or. in subsequent genera
tions a ''nicking'' influence may draw
Onward her characteristic dairy forces.
If one could solve this mystery or
af1nitive influences and by w
signs foretell which populations would
produce the most beneficial results, the
progress of breeding could be hastened
a hundred fold. But in every case OF
grading up from promiscuous ounda-
tons the way has TO be felt step by
step. If a uniform direction be given
to the grading so that the herd pro-
crosses steadily toward the type or
some fixed breed, a share of uncertainty
may be eliminated. The charted pedf-
gree of every bull should be carefully
preserved. and the breeder should
know the sire of each COW for as many
generations as he has bred. 1t is an at
tested fact that happy hicks" have a
tendency to repeat themselves where
the same currents of blood again come
together. This means not merely that
the crossing currents be similar IN
general breed character, but that they
emanate from the same specific lines
and individuals within the breed! In
this way successful blood crosses have
become celebrated in almost every es-
tablished breed in which a physical
performance or function is the object
sought.
When the dairyman has a sufficient
number of heifers in milk, all by the
same thoroughbred sire. to supplant the
original herd of promiscuousiy selected
dairy COWS from which his heifers were
bred, has an element of uniformity in
the younger herd that with good for
tune may be turned to good advantage.
For them he must select q new bull,
unless perchance he has coupled some
of the older ones with their own sire,
which, in case he was Of great merit,
might be an exceedingly good move
thus early in the grading of a herd. To
get q second bull to nick wcll with his
young herd is the great deslderatum.
If he secures n that is close kin to
the first bull used, and the relationship
springs from the best animals in the
pedigree OF the first bull, his chances
will be favored. All of the young herd
partake of the first bulrs quality, and
to find a nick for that in one OF them
Is to nick it in IN others, il not all.
II his first bull was of n'established
family long famous in the breed from
which he was chosen, it can generally
be ascertained which other strains
within the breed have furnished the
greatest performing crosses for his own
best strain of blood, These outcrosses
should also be considered in selecting
the new bull. Few dairymen ever give
any consideration to these points, but
get what they are led to suppose is "A
well bred bull for each cross, and
40 Dn,.I fhA- AT,n 80 IL ,AAx.r 49,.
monizing with the old. The most sue
cessful breeders of high class perform
erS in all Xed breeds understand and
give heed to these points, and to them
the exact lines of a pedigree are as a
chart to the mariner.
That the. same rules will greatly
facilitate the grading up OF q dairy
herd cannot be doubted. Here the
point is TO get abundant dairy capacity
rather than merely to get the snowy
qualities of the breed. The two may
go together, and often do, but not of
necessity. Eurybia, third in the great
worlds fair dairy test, is a Jersey that
has great qualifications as both show
and dairy COW, While Loretta ID. and
Diplomas Brown Lassie, who beat her
in the test, could not begin to show
with her in the prize ring.
If the dairyman who wishes to raise
his own grades will select his bulls
AKIN 10 the great COWS IN mat contest,
and by studying the pedigrees of those
COWS select the next Eull to reproduce
the blood formulas that those cows
represent, he will be moving in the
of success. The breed asso-
Citations should, for the education OF
dairymen, publish the tabulated pedi-
grees in extenso of the greatest win
nerS in the public contests, with such
facts relating to he character of the
component lines Of each pedigree as
will enlighten the student who is seek
ing to study out the characteristic ef-
feet of crossing the respective lines.
If the pedigree of all the cows hat
stood high in public competitive
tests at the worlds fair at Chicago,
Buffalo and ST. LOFTS were published
in full t~abulated form, and all of the
indeXed, the group would af-
ford each breed a selected herd book
that would be the safest guide to
breeders, whether of grades or Of thor
who aimed at dairy cana
city above all else.
The methods and the detail of these
tests are cumbersome and not perfect.
but they are far ahead of anything
else that has aprcare,a es . ssiae-.c-
breeders. because they afford a de-
pendence upon truthfulness and relia-
bility which is not likewise safeguard
ed in private tests. Furthermore. they
are prolonged and far more significant
of merit than those Of a day or a.
week, or even of a month. See how
bravely the same Jersey blood that
won at Chicago in 1898 improved in
form at ST. Louis eleven years later.
Hark CoTnstock.