Oxford Democrat., 1919-12-16
AMONG THE FARMERS.
.sPrED THE pLow."
Dalryiug for Profit.

"sPHED TIE PLOw.'
Dalrying for Profit.
KNOWLEDGE OF MILK INHERITANCE
LAWS IMPERATIVE.
The success Of the dairy industry de
pends on favorable balance sheet. Th,
making Of this favorable balance de
pends upon economic production anC
efficient marketing. Production 10 de
pendent upon the handling, including
care and feeding, of Q capable animal
Large amount of effort has been given tc
the problems OF economic handling and
marketing. The question OF the capable
animal has been to the fore for quarter
of century. Unquestionably an 3D.
vance has been made, fully as much ad
vance as could have been expected where
the laws Of inheritance are still I'M.
known.
1t needs no proof to show that an In.
crease in the production OF each indi.
vidual unit without a corresponding in.
crease in the cost results In more favor
able balance sheet TO the owner or man.
facturer. As Mr.. Putnam Of New Hsmp-
shire said In recent meeting of the
Maine State Dairymeu at Bangor, II one
| can obtain an increased milk production
of each cow In the herd IL will obviously
decrease the cost of production. For
the fixed charges remain about the same
no matter how much cow milks. The
cost Of the increased milk production is
only the cost of the grain which the high
mixer needs over that required by low
mixer. Thus according to Mr.. Put
mans figures an increase Of 20 per cent
in milk flow over the average of 5174
pounds results in decreasing the cost OF
producing one quart Of milk by lib
cents.
How can such an increase be brought
aboutP By breeding better animals is
the obvious answer. Despite its evident
practical value this phase of the subject
has received little consideration in the
animal breeding Investigations as carried
on In different parts of the world. This
is no doubt due to the complexities of
the problem. In fact the Maine Agricul-
tural Experiment Station was the first
and even to-day almost the only station
to systematically undertake problems
dealing with this phase Of animal hus-
bandry.
This work undertaken by the Maine
Agricultural Experiment Station for the
dairymen of the state and supported by
an appropriation secured by them to
supplement the Federal funds under the
batch and Adams acts at present in
cludes four lines of investigation, each
intended to increase the milk production
per cow for the herd.
The first Of these consists in determin-
ing by carefully controlled matings the
laws of inheritance of milk yield, and OF
butter.fat. These laws once determined
will enable the dairyman to do with cat
tie what the Maine Station can now do
with poultry. It is we'll recognized that
to-day in cattle breeding 1t is necessary
to test the sire by the performance lin
milk yield, butter-fat percentage, ETC.
of some of his daughters before any safe
guess can be made as to what the milk |
production of his untried offspring will
be when they come to test. The poultry |
man is able by the application of laws of
Inheritance found by the studies of the
Maine Station to do more with poultry
than the dairyman can with cattle. The
Station is able in fact to use untried
cockerels in its breeding pens and be
sure of the egg production of their get.
The reasons for this are (a)because 1t has
found by observation that q hen trans
mits certain of her laying abilities only
through her sons; (b) that mother also
transmits another independent set of her
laying abilities through both her SONS
and her daughters and (c) that by .
proper combination of these abilities In
the cock and in the hen the offspring
from such mating will be high pro-
ducing hens or will be cock birds which
transmit high production to their daugh.
ters.
It takes two generations from the Cross
to completely analyze the laws of inheri.
tance of any character. The Station has
practically completed the first genera.
ton crosses, and now has thirteen second
generation CROSSES approaching the milk
producing age. These and the other
necessary second generation matings
will, 1t Is hoped, solve the laws of in
heritance of milk production.
The second line of inquiry is to deter.
mine the transmitting qualities for milk
yield and butter.fat percentage OF the
sires in the advanced registries Of the
different breeds. The work on one
breed is now completed. Two of the
other breeds have the work nearly com.
pleted. The measure Of the milk pro-
duction of sire's daughters milk yield
against that of their dams gives for the
Arst time in the history of livestock hus-
bandry Q comprehensive and scientific
measure Of the true breeding worth and
value of the various blood lines. This
is one of the first lines of investigation
upon milk inheritance which the Station
will be able to complete. From purely
practical standpoint 1t Is probable that
no work which the Station has done
along these lines is of 80 direct and i'm.
mediate value to the farmer, the dairy
man, and the breeders. For lis future
usefulness this work depends largely on
the breeding work to determine the laws
governing the Inheritance Of milk yield
and butter-fat percentage as outlined
above.
A third study is to determine the
variation OF milk yield and butter-fat
percentage for the different breeds. The
Investigations under this head are OF
foundationa! nature. When the Maine
Station undertook Its studies of milk
yield, etc., so little knowledge existed
on the subject that many facts Of Q
somewhat elementary nature had to be
determined. Among these already ascer-
tainad and nuhliahed are. the law az.
pressing the change of milk flow and
butter.fat percentage with age; the re-
lance which can be placed upon one
lactation record as q measure of the
probable milk yield of another lactatioD; !;
and the relative value Of the short time
test as measure Of the cows producing
capacities.
a fourth line of work already begun
is to ascertain the relation which may
exist between conformation and milk
yield. The conformation Of body parts
presumed to have q relation to milk
,ta,d 4. oo..th1v uoad ~oro than anv