8o AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Good breeding bulls have a masculine appearance. The 

 bulls with light jaws, narrow forehead and face, slim neck and 

 light shoulders are seldom the sires of good milkers ; the nostrils 

 should be large to allow for the inlet of large amounts of fresh 

 air, they should be full in the heart girth and show stamina and 

 vigor throughout. This does not imply coarseness, as coarse- 

 ness is unevenness, but rather uniformity is desired. The bull 

 will be valuable as his breeding is valuable. A long line of 

 producing dams and grandams is essential. A chain is no 

 stronger than its weakest link, neither is a line of pure-blood. 

 Some men argue that a bull should be judged by his conforma- 

 tion rather than by his breeding. It is true that many a herd 

 and flock have been ruined by selecting the animals to head it 

 merely from the pedigree. But thousands of herds have also 

 been ruined by letting pedigree go and selecting from conforma- 

 tion alone. Both should be considered in selecting the animal. 



If we canvass the country and learn the ages of the bulls in 

 service among our dairy herds we would find many young 

 untried bulls being used. It is a deplorable condition that pre- 

 vails, that of breeding so much from young and immature sires. 

 It is the custom with some dairymen not to think of keeping a 

 bull after he is two years old or three at the most. By that age 

 he is just beginning to get old enough to show whether he has 

 any value as a breeder or not. Nothing can be told of a bull's 

 breeding powers until his first crop of calves are matured and 

 it is regrettable that a good bull has to go oftentimes when his 

 usefulness is just beginning, while so many yearlings and two- 

 year-olds that ought to have gone when they were skinners are 

 allowed to do duty. A good bull, one that shows prepotency 

 and ability to get good calves, that become good cows, should 

 only go when his power as a breeder is at an end. If a young 

 bull is worth a certain sum before he is tried, he certainly is 

 worth more after he is tried. A bull's calves will tell a truer 

 story of himself than any man can tell. 



Prepotency is the power which an animal has to transmit its 

 own characteristics to its offspring. iMarked prepotency 'is 

 seldom found. When it is, it should be cherished and the great- 

 est good derived from it possible. 



Most of our breeds of live stock, including dair}^ cattle, come 

 from across the water. Quoting from Kennedy in his article 



