Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1910-07-21

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dairy herd he should hear In u,ns
.nat the great problem which present,
user Is the one OF building up and
oetterins the herd at all times IN.
stead OF producing animals that arc
Iess profitable or poorer in theft cc,.
formation than their mothers. Thers
Is only one way to bring about i'm.
provement and that is BY the earesui
selection OF sires and BY bropett,
raising the offspring by feeding ana
caring Tor them with the best possible
methods. II Is tever advisable to pse
grade or scrub sire no mat,er
whether the cows be pure in their
breeding or only grades. true II ,s
tnat many grade bulls are as good IN.
dividualiy or look to one az being as
sCod as any pure bred sire. and In
many Instances it Is true that MANY
grade bulls can be found that. speak.
ing from the standpoint OF Individual.
,y. are superior 10 the large ma
lority OF the pure bred bulls obtain.
aoie. However. one is always uucer.
.ain as TO the outcome OF his breed.
ing operations when using a sire
whose pedigree Is not known. II IA
not enough TO know the character Of
tne sire and dam OF the bull at the
mead OF the herd II may be and often.
umes Is the case that grade bull
may have most excellent mother
and be well sired and still the results
OF his use be the greatest Of disap-
pointment due to the law OF atav,,m
or reversion. which means simply
that the offspring may trace back
through the sire and dam. grand sires
and grand dams. often back several
generations. to some animal that was
the most veritable scrub. and. conse-
quently. the offspring would be much
poorer than any OF the other ances-
tors. An illustration OF this Is that
Aberdeen Angus cows. pure in their
breeding. sometimes have red calves.
This Is due undoubtedly to the fact
that the Aberdeen Angus breed Of cat.
tie originated scores Of years aeo
from foundation of red animals and.
although at the present time the
largest percentage Of the offspring
are Jet black. with scarcely a white
spot on them. some OF the calves are
born red
In addition TO the pedigree that IN.
dicates large production In all the ma.
ternal ancestry. the individuality OF
the bull must be Of the type desired
In the offspring He must give indi.
cations of prepotency and mascullnity.
have a strong constitution. capacity,
circulatory system. nervous tempera.
ment or disposition. and the indica.
tions Of milking ability described for
the selection Of cows. Too much at.
tention can never be given TO the se-
lecting Of the head OF the herd and
the fact that so much carelessness has
in the past been used on the dairy
farm In this particular regard Is the
reason why dairy herds at the present
time do not produce more largely on
the average and more profitably than
they do. This Is well illustrated by
the fact that In the neighborhood OF
the very best breeders OF bred dairy
cattle We find the best farm dairy
herds in the world due to the fact
that these breeders have sold or
loaned to their neighbors bulls with
the prepotency and highly developed
dairy breeding behind them that rem
dered them useful in building up the
herds to their present standard As
a result OF this usage Of good sires for
several years past these dairymen are
selling their cows and heifers for ex-
tremely high prices. in many In
stances for grade cows and heifers
from SIS up to $3.50 a head. As a
matter Of fact. there is only one way
OF securing good profitable dairy cows
at the present time without paying
extremely large prices for them. ow-
ing to the great demand for good
cows. and that is by the use of good
sires. AS a rule most farmers have
cows that they milk and many among
them are profitable. By sorting these
out. by using the Babcock test and
scales and keeping them as a founda-
ton herd. using only the very best OF
dairy sires. retaining the calves and
growing them well, II is surprising
how quickly the production of the
farm herd may be doubled and then
in the future doubled again and so
on, depending entirely upon the char
acter OF the sire used and the meth
ods employed in raising the offspring
Il is possible at this time TO buy good.
high-grade cows capable Of producing
from three to six hundred pounds OF
butter in a year. but these kind of
cows are very expensive and unless
one is careful In selecting them he is
liable to bring upon his farm different
diseases. such as abortion. tubercu-
losis and many OF the other diseases
to which cows are subject