The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1910-06-30

/ quantities or young heifers of good
| Dreeding. But the price asked for such
animals, while 1t may not be exorbit-
ant, Is usually more than the average
FARMER is willing to pay and he Will
ma that II he wants good dairy cows
he must raise them himself. And his
success will depend on his realization
OF the great law in breeding that like
begets like or the likeness OF an an
cestor. Just as surely as the good
dairy COW, as a rule produces Off
spring as good or better than herself.
SO surely must he expect Offspring
without dairy qualities from the poor
dairy cow For this reason he must
choose only his best dairy animals for
mothers of his future herd.
The systematic dairyman fixes a
minimum production as standard of
excellence In mature COW, and while
one is content II a COW produces him
$50 pounds of butter fat in a year. an
other wants 800 pounds and selects
only cows capable of such production
for his mother cows. In every case
the COW must be bodily sound.
But the certainty.of inherited dairy
qualities in the offspring does not de-
pend upon the good qualities of the
mother alone. We can only be reason
ably certain when she has been bred
to a sire whose ancestry shows the
same good qualities which we wish to
produce. When the dairyman buys the
bull he has at the same time chosen
the breed he wishes to work with as
well as the type he wants to reproduce
in his herd, and for this reason he
should choose with care and delibera-
ton. In case the herd Is made up of
cows Of mixed breeding the bull Will
exert an influence On the offspring Of
more than so per cent. But as with
the COW SO with the bull His value is
not known until he has been tested.
Ono must see his offspring and know
their qualities before one can know his
value, and many bulls have been killed
before their value was known.
Members of COW testing associa-
ton have an opportunity to exchange
bulls whenever it is necessary to dis
pose of them, and in this way the ruth
less slaughter of young bulls in their
prime of usefulness is prevented.
When the type has been established
in . herd, it is also desirable that the
sire and the dam be so nearly alike as
possible, in which case the sureness Of
their obility to reproduce their good
qualities il their. offspring is increased
and retrogressicn is guarded against.
All of which goes to show thai it is
necessary to have fixed plan if one
shall realize the most cut of his work
for better animals. The Improvement
is greatly retarded if the COWS one
year are bred TO Jersey bull and the
next to a Holstein or Shorthorn or any
other breed, and the improvements
cannot be expected at all if the cows
are bred to bulls of unknown breeding
or ancestry. That sort of breeding or
crossing should be discontinued, and
the sooner the better. Breeding within
certain breed is always to be pre-
ferred."
Farmers Tribune speaks in this
manner on the subject of developing a
dairy herd.
1T is q common saying that the bull
is half the herd. Some go even farther
and say the bull is three-fourths of the
herd. In a sense this is true, but it is
not true in the sense that the bull has
greater influence on the offspring
that has the COW, provided both are
equally well bred. Given male and
female of equally strong prepotent
qualities and the good qualities of one
are as likely to be transmitted to the
offspring as the good qualities of the
other. The same is true of the unde-
sirable qualities each animal may pos
sess The only sense in which the ex-
preston that the bull is half the herd
is true is that the latter can repro
duce more often than the former. Thus
a man who is ambitious to build up
pFQductive herd should regard
cow as of as much i'm
Enlistment of his