The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-11-26
A Pnre=Breed Sire
Improves the Herd.
BY H. w. GriswoId, West Sa-
lem, Wis.

:. !. : !. !. !. !. j. j. !. + !. \ j. !. + i.
The average Minnesota herd is CON-
posed of a blending of Shorthorn,
Holstein, Jersey and other breeds-a
mixture of everything, something or
nothing. We find in the same herd
animals of beef type and animals of
dairy type. Statistics show the aver
age Minnesota cow makes about $50
pounds of butter year, worth about
$35. Now, COW can hardly be fed
for less than $50. This leaves only
IS for the years work. A poor invest
ment, from the dairy standpoint. But
every farmer hopes to do better. He
believes he will have better herd. 1t
was my good fortune last winter to
take census of Twenty-Five herds of
common cows; and one of the. first
questions l asked each farmer was,
"Is your herd improving? Are your
COWS giving more milk and butter
than they did when you started?" And
do you know, of those who we're using
common-stock strains, not one said he
could see any Improvement. Ii a COM
mon-stock sire has done nothing fo-
the dairy herd in the past, why, should
future?
What Is a Pure-Bred Animal?
What is a pure bred animal? It is
one that has been bred for a long
period of years for one object. The
Holstein has been bred, in the little
country of Holland, for over 1000
years, for the production of milk, and
cheese. This long period of time,
spent for the one object, makes the
Holstein the largest producer of milk
and cheese Of any breed.
The Guernsey and Jersey, bred on
two little islands in the English chan
mel for over 500 years, are first in
the world, today, for the production of
butter This has been accomplished
only by the persistent use of the best
dairy sires which could be found. The
common COWS today are back just
where the pure-breds were 500 years
ago. If this is true, then the first
cross with a pure-bred sire would
bring the common cow-calf $50 years
ahead of it's mother, the next cross
375 years, and so on. That's the theory.
Now, how does it work out?
Our Experiences
About twenty-five years ago, on a
farm of forty acres, wheat wouldn't
support a big family. Something had
to be done, and we went into dairying
We got four fairly good COWS; paid
SIS Ia big pile them for a purebred
sire; and used the first Babcock test
er in the country. Those four cows;
under the best of care, averaged $50
pounds of butter, and brought us $50
apiece in a year. Soon, heifers by the
pure-bred sire began to come in. Our
herd increased in number and the
production per COW increased also. AS
soon as the sire became related, we
sold him and got another. The Bah
cock tester and scales were used, and
the poor COWS weeded out. Still the
herd increased, and in fifteen years
we had increased it's number from
four to twenty-four and increased the
production from $50 pounds of butter
to 425 pounds per COW, and the income
from $50 to $120 per COW. No cows
were bought, and almost all the TWEEN
ty-four descendants were from two of
the original herd. This was entirely
the result of the constant use of a
pure-bred sire, the Babcock tester, and
good care and management. We have
used pure-bred sire for about twenty
years, and the average cost has not
been to exceed SIS year-a mighty
small amount for the results obtained.