Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-12-07
County Agent Gibson Tells About Pure Bred Sires

distance his herd impreSses you more
of a grandmother's Crazy Quilt on a
green back ground than anything else
in the world and needless to say, the
average production of that herd is far
below that of his neighbOrs. Remem-
Der always in the selection of breed
that those who are endeavoring most
to advance the interests of each dairy
breed are aiming at one and the same
thing, namely the greater and more
economical production Of milk and but
ter-fat There are good and poor indix
duals in every breed.
Because a bull is pure-bred and has
pedigree, it does not follow that he
is necessarily good producer. The
value of pedigree is measured by the
story it tells Demand that the p9
gree of your bull proves beyond d
doubt that his ancestors for several
generations, were high producing COWS
and good individuals. Avoid the pedi-
gree that merely sets forth the fact
that the bull had ancestors. The pre-
sence of the bull assures you that he
had ancestors. 1t is not enough that
the bull had a good productive mother,
as his offspring may, and likely will
revert in certain characteristics to an
cestors more remote.
That Like begets like, or the like
ness of an ancestor" is the first prin-
I.ciple in progressive breeding and the
greatest improvement in all breeds
has come thru the recognition of this
law. If the pedigree shows that the
ancestors of an animal we're produc
tive, and the individual himself, thru
excellence of type, bears witness to
that fact, then it is reasonably safe
| to assume that whether the bull begets
his own or his ancestors likeness, the
result will be an Improvement.
The court of last appeal for any
animal raised for the production OF
! meat is the percentage of dressed car
cass it ultimately possesses. The
dairy COW has come to be valued for
her ability to produce dairy products.
| The dairy bull is fast coming to be
! Judged by the standard of his ability
to produce daughters and sons capable
Of large production. In this connec-
ton it is only fair to call attention
to the extreme fallacy of one OF our
most common herd practices--that OF
discarding the old bull in favor OF the
younger one, Immediately his daugh-
ters come in milk The data compiled
at Missouri, and the experience OF
almost every dairy farmer knows this
to be true. Missouri Rioter 3rd. who
increased the production OF the herd
from 4,509 lbs. to 7,154 lbs. was killed
for beef before his value as a dairy
sire was proven If the true value OF
bulls ranging in ages from four to
eight years were more fully appreclat-
ed, fewer of the best bulls of the dairy
breeds would be killed in early life
and their use would greatly increase
the average production of the Ameri-
can dairy COW.
A sire should be masculine IN every
sense of the word if he is to have the
/ power of transmitting his Characters
tics to his offspring. Masculln1ty is
denoted in Bulls at, or near maturity,
by crest and head principally The
crest should be strong and well devel-
oped and the head should have large
prominent eyes, bright, with plenty OF
breadth between them so the face
and head give as whole, the impress
sion of strength, without undue coarse
ness. Avoid the bull with dull sluggish
ewes, narrow head and neck and eff
Terminate in appearance, for excellent
as may be his record, he lacks those
characteristics which are perhaps
CONTINUED on back page.)