The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-04

Looking forward to the future food needs of this country's increasing popu- lation, the United States department of agriculture, in. cooperation with state
 agricultural colleges and other agencies interested in live stock improvement, an nounces a national better live stock cru- sade, to get actively in motion October l under the slogan of Better Sires-Better Stock"
 The plan is to hasten the replacement
 of the multitude of scrub domestic ami
 mals in the United States with pure-bred
 or high-grade stock and also to improve
 the quality of pure breds themselves It
 has been evolved through long and care full observation of the live stock indus try in this country and after extensive consultation with specialists and bred- CTS.
 MILK AVERAGE LOW For many years this country has con- | tained thousands of the finest spec,- mems of live stock in the world, but in spite of that fact the quality and pro- ductive capacity of the average farm herd and flock is still low. For instance. 1 the average dairy COW in the United States yields about 4OOO pounds of milk a year, a figure scarcely two-thirds the av- craze production in some European coun- {. tries, such as Denmark. The United | States has thousands of COWS which have
 milk yields of more than 12,00o pounds double the Danish average-but on the i other hand it has hundreds of thousands which are kept for milk and yet yield
 only a small fraction as much product as the best COWS, though receiving near ' ly as much feed and care.
 | The difference in milk yield is due in ] large measure to difference a breei- ] ing, but a herd of low production can be improved rapidly by the use of 3 pure-bred sire from a family If high pro- l ducers.
 1 Among all classes of live stock a sim far condition exists. Proper b.eeding ot ! beef animals results in better and more
 uniform stock, having a grel.er percent aga of desirable cuts of meat and q
 smaller quantity of bone. offal and in- edible parts, Like wise in swiue, sieep.
 goats and poultry production. the kind | of parent stock largely determines the quality and market value 1f the pro ! ducts. The crusade of improvement now
 to be undertasen Is the outgrowrh of in | restigations in genetics, of live s.ocl. observations in many countries and a clcse study of public opii ion. In most i live stock regions of the 7rotld a grad
 ual evolution toward bette- live stock ! has been taking place for centuries The
 tant bearing cn world comm 'c. and on i the prosperity cf the na 4ions in which l improvement has neen greatcs-. 1 II Irdividual and community efforts In
 many cases have resulted in marked live
 seek progress Tn small areas.S The island of Jersey and Guernsey are fla ! niliar examples of this kind of accoinp- lishment, but no large country so far I has endeavored in an organized way to
 improve all it's live stock simulta neously. MEN EQUAL TO TASK l Officials of ~the bureau of animal fp- dustry and others who have considered the problem from every angle are con- 1 vinced that it $ possible to hasten the
 natural course of live stock evolution i with benefit to the nation. They are
 Confident also that the live stock men of ! the country are eager to undertake the task.
 l The means of accomplishing most of
 the mprovement-which affects about | POO, 900 900 head of live stock, besides poul- try-will be through wider distribution and increased use of pure-bred sires and | dams.
 l Once the use of pure-bred sires becomes l general throughout the country, the pro- l cess of grading up will be rapid. Many experiments and also practical experi- ,ence, when good sires are used, shoY 1 that within three generations most of | the individuals in a scrub herd headed l by pure-bred male resemble pure-bred animals in appearance. In few more generations under skillful breeding the ! former scrub stock is gradel lp to such an extent that for production of meat
 and other animal products, they are
 practically as useful as pure-breds. The chief difference between "high-grade"
 animal and a pSre-bred is in the valu' 1 for breeding. ~Only the latter can be
 used in producing pure-bred breeding
 stock. Moreover, only pure-breds are eligible for registry.
 l EMBLEM TO BE FURNISHED The department of agriculture. through l its cooperative state agencies, is prepar- l ing to supply live stock raisers with printed information that tells jn popular l language the best animal breeding methods and the advantages to be de- rived from theirsuse In addition. the de- FARMER MTTST