The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1916-02-05
How 10 Improve
the Dairy Herds
BY o. e. Reed, Of the Kansas
Agricultural College

| ne udlTy COW mas Dcen tidHSloi III
ed by careful selection and breeding
into highly specialized or artificial
| animal One of the big problems Of
the breeders of dairy cattle is to Sc
lect animals that will improve the
| herd.
A dairyman who is improving
breed of cattle must have a herd
| characterized by breeding, produc
ton, and individuality. In selecting
foundation stock 1t is important that
the beginner have these three essen.
tials in mind.
"A good dairy COW must be an &C.
onomical producer. This means that
she must produce large quantities OF
milk. Experience has proved that
the best individual is not always the
best producer. Some OF the cows
that have held the worlds record for
the production OF butter fat have
been poor individuals.
How the Milk Cow Was Developed
The artificial COW we have today
is the result Of many years of breed
ing. The undomesticated COW gave
only milk enough to support calf
until it could live on other foods.
The cows at that time probably show.
ed little variation in their dairy char.
acteristics.
after cattle we're domesticated
and milk became an important arti-
Gle Of food some attention was paid
to improving the milking qualities.
Some cows through natural variation
showed more highly developed milk
ing characteristics and were retained
as breeding animals.
1T is a well established law Of
breeding that when a certain charac.
ter is developed in a breed of ami
mails more than originally was the
case this acquired character is not
transmitted regularly. We often see
cows from high producing dams that
are poor performers because the dam
was not a we'll bred cow"
Should BE From a Consistent Family
A well bred animal Is member
Of a strain or family that has prov.
ell its value by being an average con.
sistent producer.
A cow does not have to be pure
bred animal to be we'll bred; that Is
she can be well bred even though
she is not from a registered sire and
dam. Many well bred grade COWS
produce 600 pounds of butter in q
year, while their purebred stable
mates produce only 200 pounds.
The we'll bred cow can reasonably
be expected to transmit her dairy
qualities to her offspring while the
calves from a poorly bred COW ever
though she is good producer. viii
probably be poor mixers.
A well bred COW is one sired by
bull having a large number of higl
producing daughters. The dam .
this COW must be at least an aver
age mixer. A bull may have few
high producing daughters, but tn
average of all may be low.
81 would rather have COW from
family of medium high producers
than one with large record II Tn
average record for that strain wa
low.
Selection is a Hard Problem
"The selection of the COW on ind
yiduality alone is difficult probler
but nevertheless 1t Is the one W
: usually must employ because record
are available in but few cases.
, Where production records hav
/. been kept 1t is usually the poore
: animals that are for sale. The ave
! age dairyman can select the 80
pound COW from herd Of 100 poun
I cows, but 1t is impossible to pick tn
' 600 pound COW from a herd OF 30
pound animals.
The dairy breeds are similar bu
differ in a few essential characteI
I istics. These differences must b
firmly fixed in mind and followed !
}. selecting a herd Of cows. A uniforr
herd is the result of the nee OF car
In the selection OF foundation stool
A breeder should try to combin
8 production, breeding. and individual
d ity in mating his animals This ha
r. been done in number OF the hes
|. herds In the country.