Arizona state miner., 1926-07-03
DETERMINE VALUE
OF DAIRY SIRES

prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture.)
Perhaps the best way to determine
the true value of the dairy bull, says
the United States Department of Agri-
culture, is through the production rec
OrdS of his daughters. If dairy bull
has many daughters, and all of these
excel medium to low-producing dams,
the sire has a certain value; If all the
daughters excel medium to high-prO-
ducing dams, the true value of the
bull is comparatively high but If all
the daughters excel high-producing
dams, the true value of that bull is
very high.
For the first time in the history of
this country figures are now becoming
available, through the cow-testing as
sociations, by which the true value of
thousands of dairy bulls of each dairy
breed may be determined through the
production records Of their unsolicited
daughters.
Department Circular 368, just issued
by the bureau of dairying, United
States Department of Agriculture.
shows how the true value of dairy
bull may be measured by comparing
the yearly production records of his
daughters with the records Of their
dams.
In a study that compared the
yearly production records of 2,182
daughters with the records of their
dams, it was found that the daughters
excelled the dams by 377 pounds OF
milk and 10 pounds of butterfat.
These gains are not considered phe-
nomenal, but with the high-average
production of the dams (S,635 pounds
of milk and 342 pounds of butterfat
they are very satisfactory. The gains
would have been excellent had 1t not
been for a few inferior sires whose
daughters kept the average produc-
tion of all the daughters down. This
is the kind of sire that should be
eliminated from the dairy herds OF
the country.
In general, the study showed that
most pure-bred sires will increase the
production Of the daughters above
that of low-producing dams. However,
as the production of dams increases,
better and still better sires must be
used or the daughters will not excel
the production records Of the dams. A
small increase Of the daughters over
high-producing dams may be a great
er credit to the sire than a much
larger increase over low-producing
dams.
A study Of So pure-bred bulls In
cow-testing associations, each having
five or more tested daughters, showed
that in some cases all the daughters eX-
celIed the dams; in other cases some
of the daughters excelled and others
did not; and in still other cases every
daughter produced less than her dam.
This shows the necessity of using
great care in the selection of dairy
sire.
The fact that the daughters of any
sire excel their dams in production OF
butterfat is very important factor,
but it is not the only factor to be
IL q O1S OAAANA NAANS
whether the production of the dam Is
high or low. Some sires increased the
records OF the daughters over fairly
high-producing dams more than 4O
per cent; other sires lowered the pro-
duction of the daughters almost as
much below that of similar dams. That
does not mean, however, that all s1res
whose daughters failed to produce as
much as their dams should be sent to
the butcher; but it does mean that, II
kept at all, they should be used to
improve lower-producing dairy herds.
A copy Of the circular may be op-
tanned as long as the supply lasts by
writing to the United States Depart
ment Of Agriculture, Washington,
D. G.