White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-03-25

GONE years ago there existed
- throughout the country a feeling
hat high records were the only thing
TO consider in selecting breeding stock.
AS a result of this we had a great
many animals used for breeding pur-
poses that were of decidedly inferior
type. The sentiment Of the breeders
has changed a great deal since that
time and in some instances the pen
dulum has swung to the other extreme,
and we have some men who believe
type is the main objective in the breed
ing business.
The fundamental purpose of the
dairy COW is to produce milk and the
ability to produce milk is governed by
inheritance. We might have an ami
NAL of wonderful type that had not in
herited great milk production and
would therefore be failure as pro-
Queer. On the other hand we might
have an animal that has inherited
great milk production and yet would
be failure as producer or repro
Queer. An example of the latter case
would be a COW that started out as an
exceptional producer but due to pen
dulous i'll shaped udder she suffered
an injury which ended her usefulness
as a producer. We have all seen ami
mails that started out we'll indicating
of good production, but due
to some deficiency that is associated
with our ideas of good type have failed
to produce profitably over period of
years.
think that breeders should recog-
nize the fact that both type and pro-
duction should be considered in a
sound breeding program. To my mind
one of the real needs of the owner of
purebreds is supervised production
records on greater number of ami
mails. This would enable the breeder
to put his breeding program on a
sounder basis with regard to both his
herd sires and his breeding females.
A case which illustrates the necessity
of records on large number of daugh-
tiers of bull is that of a famous
Jersey. This bull is both a gold and
silver medal bull and if judged on the
basis of his best daughters records
would seem to be one of the greatest
bulls Of the breed. However, when
his daughters records were compared
with their dams records it was found
that the average production of his
daughters was about 1920 less than
the production of their dams. This
shows the necessity of having records
on all of the daughters of a bull and
on their dams as we'll if we are to
make sound choice of proven sire.
Just what plan must be followed to
achieve this end is a problem that has
been studied by many men interested
both directly and indirectly in the
dairy business. Our present plan of
testing has not been applied to very
large percentage of pure-bred cattle.
During the years about 1920 to 1922
official testing reached its peak and
there has been steady decline since
that time. -
According to a recent report testing
in Indiana has declined about 800. In
Washington the average number of
herds tested per month has declined
662s9o from 1922 to 1925. The aver
age number of COWS tested per month
has decreased $3.50 in the same
period. Seven-day work has decreased
$3.50 and semi-official work 500 in
the same period. do not have figures
of testing in Oregon and California
for 1926 but according to figures for
1926 these states suffered about the
same or little heavier than Wash
ington.
The prices received for pure bred
cattle by the breeder have declined a
suwss6assx,