White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1923-12-07
The Purebred Record Associations
of the Dairy Breeds of America

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result of centuries Of selection. MAI
urally, in any country or locality
those farm animals which proved
best suited to the purpose for which
they were kept upon the farm wer,
used for breeding In the course o
time the natural result was a spe
| cialized animal, which was a vas
Improvement upon the earlier stock
Thus there were developed in Grea
Britain the Jersey, the Guernsey, the
| Ayrshire, the Devon, the milking
Shorthorn, and other less well-knowI
breeds. In Hol land there was
evolved particularly the COW known
as the Holstein-Friesian COW. In
Switzerland there was the Brown
Swiss COW.
During the early history of Amer
lea, whatever COWS happened to be
on hand were brought over by the
colonists. For long time in the
United States we had just cows. No
body knew their ancestry, and as
one gave any special care to his
but the nondescript COW which was
breeding operations upon the farm.
And so it came about that we were
we'll along in the last century be-
fore we had anything upon our farms
a product of the various early and
careless importations.
In a new country, because Of the
abundance of natural rough feeds,
the production of beef antedates the
special production of dairy cattle and
dairy products. 1t was therefore in
the natural order of things that pure
bred beef animals should have re-
ceived somewhat earlier emphasis
than purebred dairy animals.
1t would have been possible, | as
sumo, for America to have developed
its own dairy breed, employing the
same methods which had been en-
ployed successfully In the older coun-
tries. With mongrel cattle, however,
which we had as foundation, 1t
might have taken thousand or pos
sibly two thousand years to have
developed a breed the equal of the
well-established breeds already found
in Europe. Our people therefore
wisely decided that instead Of at
tempting to create, out Of the raw
material at hand, an American cow,
it would be more sensible to make
importations from Europe. thus util-
izing the achievements Of the Euro
pean breeders Of many centuries.
And SO today the chief dairy breeds
in the United States are all derived
from specialized breeds which were
developed across the sea. Our in
debtedness to the great breeders,
especially of Great Britain and Hol
land and Switzerland, is immense
and one which we cheerfully ac-
knowledge.
When, however, the importation of
purebred dairy cattle once began, 1t
became necessary to form the pure
bred associations of the owners Of
such cattle. Thus there came about
the several purebred associations.
That these associations have played
a most conspicuous part In the de-
velopment of the dairy cattle of the
United States Is a fact | think which
no one will dispute
Associations to Preserve Records
The purebred associations in Amer
lea were formed primarily for pre-
serving the records Of the cattle
thus imported and their descendants.
For this purpose herd books were
established. Later all Of the dairy
purebred associations established adj
vanced registry for recording the
production of such cows as their
several owners wished to put under
the inspection of the associations.
This has come to be one Of the most
important of the activities of the
purebred association. 1t has devel-
oped keen but upon the whole gen
erous rivalry among the owners OF
cows, both within the same breed
and as between the different breeds.
The advanced registry work has
been q powerful factor in increasing
the production of milk and butter
tat. 1t also serves another purpose.
In fixing upon the proper type OF any
farm animal, there Is always the
danger that too much stress may be
laid upon the finer points OF con
formation without terence to
whether or not these points are at
Tended with compensating superior.
ity in performance. The final test,
Jf course, of a beef animal Is what
it will do on the block, and the final
test of dairy cow Is what she will
do at the pail. In America many
competent critics believe that our
tendency has been to emphasize pro
duction at the expense Of type. At
the present time | think the pure
bred associations are paying more at
tention to type than at any time In
The past. Now, one Of the most use
full functions Of advanced registration
is to correct any excess of emphasis