Oxford Democrat., 1920-06-29
Animal fiusbandry Investigations.


For more than fifty years careful at
tention has been paid to breeding o
dairy COWS. And the improvement whil
in some inLtarcss marked is far from
what the breeder desires. The practice
of breeding from the best on the assump
tion that like begets like does not by an!
means give uniform results. Animal
that are expected to be large producer
often prove the reverse. And the occa
sional prodigy fails to have daughters o.
her class.
AZ the breeding has been and still II
without knowledge of how milk and but
ter.fat production are inherited and reli
anoe was and is placed upon mass breed
ing that there are no great gains is moi
to be wondered at. The breeding is fol
the most part based upon q hypothesis
then regarded as law, and which we
now know to be only partially true, that
''like produces like"
In 1911 when the Maine Agricultural
Experiment Station announced that II
bad found that for poultry, high egg
production was transmitted through the
sons rather than through the daughters,
the idea that this might be true in dairy
cattle as we'll as In poultry seemed to
take hold upon the dairymen of the
country, and in some breeds they began
advanced registries for sires based not,
Of course. upon their own milk produc-
tion or that even of their dams, but of
the milk and butter.fat production of
their get.
This thought appealed to the Maine
Dairymen's Association very greatly, 30
much 80 that they appointed at their
meeting in 1911 committee consisting
of Rutillus Alden, W. G. Huntou, F. s..
Adams and Raymond Pearl, "to provide
ways and means whereby either by pri-
vate endowment or state appropriations
sufficient funds may be provided for q
series of years to enable the Maine Agri
cultural Experiment Station to under
take an investigation of the problems of
breeding for increased milk and milk fat
production on as broad and as thorough
basis as has been 40 successfully car
ried out In the past Is years with breed
ing poultry for increased egg produc-
tion."
This committee decided that the most
feasible way to obtain this money was to
ask q continuous appropriation in favor
of the Maine Agricultural Experiment
Station from the Legislature, and 1t was
planned to ask for $4,000 annually at
the legislature of 1918. At the two pre-.
ceding legislatures the College of Agri-
culture through the trustees of the Uni
versity of Maine had been seeking an ap-
preparation for the construction Of much
needed new barns. 1t was rather feared
that the legislature would not be 80 likely
to give two appropriations II the larger
amount was asked for the animal hus-
bandry investigation. And In order to
the position of the College OF
Agriculture they proposed to furnish the
animals needed for the experiment to.
gether with housing room with the un-
derstanding that the committee would
reduce its request to the legislature to
s. 900 and assist in getting the appropri-
alton for the barns. The legislature of
1918 made the appropriation Of S5 900
year annually in favor of the Maine Ag-
ricultural Experiment Station for animal
husbandry Investigations and made lib
eral appropriation for the construction
of the new barns for the College of Ag.
riculture.
The State Dairymen knew that long
time must elapse between the beginning
Of the definite breeding cross bred ex
pertinent and obtaining results that
would adequately answer the funda
mental question of how milk and butter
fat are Inherited. But there were large
of available data that had not
been analysed, and these studies to-
gether with cooperative experiments
with breeders have been carried stimuli
taneously with the major proposition.
Those inquiries have and are giving re-
suits of high Importance which are being
published from time to time. UP to
January 1, 1920, 20 publications aggre-
eating 1852 pages have been issued. I'm
portant as these results are they are de- |
pendent for their full Interpretation upon
, knowledge of the laws Of Inheritance. |
Such knowledge would remove the un-
from breeding, and be worth |
millions of dollars to the world.
CHAs D. WOODS, Director.