Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1910-03-30

fact that the characters which an ami
NAL possesses are not always devel-
Oped. Such characters are called ia
tent, while the ones that are developed
are called dominant. Characters which
are latent in one animal may become
dominant in his offspring. Thus the
milking qualities of COW are trans
mitted more surely through her bull
calves than through her daughters.
The milking characteristic is. of course.
latent in the bull. but ii becomes DOM
inant in his heifer calves. and in a
greater degree than in the original
cows heifer calves.
1t is the same way with other char
acters. In fact, so many latent char
acterS enter in to affect the off,
spring that a good sire cannot be pick
ed by his looks alone. The great
Shortborn bull Lancaster Comet, one
of the great early inIprovers of the
breed. was not particularly outstand-
ing individual himself. but he possess
ed the ability of impressing his latent
characters upon his offspring for many
generations. The standard bred horse
Hambletonian did not have a record.
but he sired more record horses in
the same length of time than Dan
Patch has This does not mean that
the selection of high class sires is not
important. but it shows that it is not
the only point to be considered. These
facts show the great value of tried
sires. An animal that has shown his
ability to sire outstanding offspring
is worth five times as much us young
animal that has not been tried. 1t is
shortsighted policy to get rid of
male animals before they have shown
what they can do. When sire of ex-
traordinary ability has been found
keep him as long as he is strong and
virilP. These same points apply to fe-
males as well. though not SO strongly,
as the male is halt the herd, while it
takes great many females to make
up the other half.
Grading.
One of the most important means of
improving Il herd is by grading-that
is by using the best kind of pure
bred sire on the females each year.
The Improvement will be rapid and
marked. The offspring of Il pure bred
sire mated with ordinary females will
be one-half pure or even more. since
the pure blood will be more prepotent.
The offspring Of these animals will be
threequauerS pure, the next seven
eighths. and so on. It takes but q
very few years to develop herd that
are practically pure bredS. These high
grade females when mated to pure
bred males will produce practically as
good offspring AZ could be got from
pure bred females. High grade males
should not be used for sires. however.
as they do not have the ability to i'm
press their good qualities upon their
offspring. while the latent scrub quail
ties are bound to crop out
Constructing.
Crossbrpeding- that is, the crossing
of pure bred animals of different
breeds-can often be used 10 advan-
tage in producing market animals.
The desirable traits of the two breeds
may be united and a superior type of
market animal produced The cham
piOn fat animals at the international
live stock show are often crosSbrpdS.
When crossbred animals are used for
breeding purposes. however, they rap
idly detPriOrate and the strain soon
becomes run oct.
The produce of the crossing Of two
/, distinct species. such as the horse and
the ass, are called hybrids. Hybrids,
as is the case with the mule, are often
very useful HybridiZatiOn is of little
consequence in breeding. however. as
hybrids are unable to reproduce them
selves.
lnbreeding and Line Breeding.
Inbreeding means the mating OF
brother and sister, sire and daughter
or soE and mother. Close breeding
means the mating of relatives a degree
further removed. Inbreeding has been
used to great advantage in developing
the modern breeds Of domestic ami
mails In the hands of other than q
master breeder, however, inbreeding is