The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-04-15
THE DAIR I
BREEDING DAIRY COWS.


depends chiefly on her inherent milk
yielding capacity. This is hereditary
quality, and, such being the case, the
milk yielding capacity of a herd of
dairy COWS can largely be increased
by careful selection and breeding. In
herds where a large milk yield is de-
sired, special attention must, therefore
be paid to the drafting into the herd
only those heifers which have been
bred from the best, or, at any rate
good mixers. The heifer calves from
poor or Indifferent mixers, should on
no account be retained, as they will
have inherited poor milking qualities
of their mothers.
BY selecting the heifers as just de-
scribed, and continuing their process
for a sufficient length of time, the
average milk yield of a herd will be
considerably increased. 1t is not suffi-
cient, however, to insure that the dams
of the calves retained for drafting into
the herd are good mixers. Earnest
attention should be paid to the class OF
sires that are used, in the dairy herd
The sire should, if possible, be bred
from a deep milking strain. This point
is one of great Importance, but very
often entirely neglected. great many
dairymen pay little or no attention tC
this matter, but use any kind of ar
animal, SO long as he can get calves
this characteristic is usually more pro-
nounced with mongrels than with ami
mails of good breeding.
In some instances, the selection as
regards the dam of the heifer retained
for placing in the herd, is judiciously
carried out, but little or no attention
is bestowed on the question whether
the bull used for serving the COW
comes from a deep milking strain and
besides this, a heavy milker for its
dam. On the contrary, not infrequently
entirely unsuitable bulls are used in
our dairy herds-bulls, it is true, which
perhaps have pedigrees as long as ones
arm and which would please almost
any judge, but whose services in a
dairy herd had better be dispensed with
The use of a bull whose immediate
female ancestors were, or are, poor
mixers, in a dairy herd is much more
to be deprecated than the breeding from
a poor milking COW and retaining her
produce.
1t must be remembered that the bull
influences the milking qualities Of all
the heifers in the herd. This evident
fact is frequently overlooked entirely
Unless therefore, the breeding Of the
bull used for service in the herd is at
tended to, little and uncertain progress
can be made in the improvement of the
milking capacities of the heifers bred
which are eventually drafted into the
dairy herd.
In fact, by breeding from a bull de-
scended from a poor milking strain, the
benefit accruing from retaining for
breeding purposes only good mixers is
to a greater or lesser extent negatived
according to the degree of prepotency
of the bull. Only if both parents are
descended from good mixers can it be
expected that the progeny will be good
mixers.
Breeding from a good mixer whose
parentage is unknown will not invari-
ably produce calves which later on
will also give a large milk yield. Breed
ing from animals whose parentage is
unknown and which are cross-bred
must at the best Of times be only guess
work, and very uncertain and unsatis-
, factory in it's results We may possess
a COW which is a heavy mixer, yet
her heifer calves may altogether fail tc
possess the same desirable quality AS
a rule, however, it will be found that
good milking COWS produce equally good
milking heifers, provided they have been
bred to a suitable bull as pointed out
above.
This is due to the fact that deep
milking generally comes from good
milking families, and that their milk
yielding capacity is an inherited quality