Graham guardian., 1908-02-14
PURE BHE0 VERSUS GRADES
Cogsni Reasons Why the Latter
Can Never ha as Gaoi as tn,
Former


fore the Massachusetts State Boaro
meeting recently his claim thai
the use OF a pure bred bull'of thu
same breed with herd of ordi
nary grade cows for four success
sive ger erations or crosses (O will
bring the resulting offspring up il
characteristics and in value for al
practical purposes to the breed
from which the sires were chosen
An implied approval of the
sentiment goes along with the
quotation, but the thought occurs
TO me that the statment is very
misleading, to say the least. Tc
accept this as true would be tC
brand the thoughtful, painstakina
and often self-sacrificing breede' 3
of pure breds as having failed il
their purpose, and maintaining
that any one, by taking advantagc
of only one side of their results
(tbe male ANIMAL, can in the breI
time covered by four generation:
of breeding, equal their work fpJ
far more decades in the production
of animals for practical purposes.
This is so unreasonable that i,
hardly seems TO need refuting
still, in the present condition OF
dairy knowledge it may work
harm, and few reasons for dis
couutenancing it may be beneficial
In. the first place no animal is
stronger in functional characteris'
tics and power than the sum of
the units of breeding in its ances.
try. Power comes from a union
of uniform tendencies on the part
of both parents. Either, bred out
of the lire, will produce progeny
weaker than itself in these units,
and there will be brought in in
fluerces that must be overcome, in
addition 10 bringing back the
original breed units. In other
words, the breeder has slipped to
the foot of the hill, and in climb
ing up again be must throw off
the accumulations gathered in the
fall. Then, again, the owner of a
grade herd cannot, or will not, us
u rule, secure so well bred male
as he would if his females were
pure. Here comes in the greatest
element of we. kness. The cheap
pure bred bull will not stand near
ly so good u chance 10 be pre-
potent-that is, to possess the
power TO transmit bis qualities 10
his offspring as against those of
the females, and thus his powers
are weakened materially.
The matter selection comes in
as an important factor in perfect
herd, and this is entirely over
looked in the professors statement.
The same rigid selection of the
best and the rejection of the poor
est calves that is practised by the
successful breeders in all breeds
would reduce the number of calves
kept in that grade herd to small
fraction of the total dropped and
make the road of increasing the
number of the herd long and
tedious one. Then, how shall we
select The bulls us necessity for
change arises? Will the average
breeder of .'ordinary" grades pcs
sess the knowledge, courage and
ability to keep the bulls he uses
as near the same family as posi-
bic, and understand, through the
results obtained, just how many
times the original bull can be used?
] contend that he will not, and
that every time new bull is Sc
lected he is likely to fall still low
er in the scale Of breed character.
istlcs and power.
Ny final objection to the claim
is use of the word "practical."
This word covers larger multi
tude of sins than any other except
charity. The practical" man has
been held up as model, and when
ever one was talking from an ac-
curate, scientific knowledge he
has been sneered at too often as
rot being practical. Years ago /
pointed out the fact that no nan
could be practical in the true sense
OF the term without being scien-
tific, and that no man could be
scientific without being practical.
The purposes OF u herd are two.
fold, The first, and most impor
tant from the breeders standpoint,
is the ability to reproduce its good
qualities in ever increasing ratio
with each generation. The second
is the capacity to produce at the
pail. No grade animal can ever
carry within herself the full pow
er Of a pure bred, and consequent
ly can never be of as much practl-
cal value. She may possibly pro
duce as well at the pail, but as an
instrument for perpetuating breed
qualities she can never be her
equal.
believe in the principle of
grading up dairy herd. l know
OF many valuable Maine dairy
herds built up in this way, but
from none of them has there ever