EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 355 



until all pedigreed ones have first been brought into service and their 

 usefulness extended as far as possible. 



PLAN FOR LIVE STOCK IMPROVEMENT. 



Before introducing the plan of live stock improvement known as 

 up-grading, we wish to state that it should be the ambition of every 

 man owning live stock to eventually get into some line of pure-bred 

 live stock breeding. The plan we have to suggest and discuss for the 

 improvement of the common stocks of the country, is that known as 

 up-grading, which consists in ingrafting the characteristics of a supe- 

 rior breed upon animals of common, or mixed breeding, for the purpose 

 of improving them. This improvement is due to the superior quality 

 of the males used, and chiefly their prepotency, or power of transmitting 

 accurately these qualities to their offspring. This plan differs from 

 cross breeding, in that pure blood is used on the sire's side, and fe- 

 males of mixed blood, or no blood, on the dam's side. Thus we have 

 the prepotency concentrated in the bull, and the very opposite in the 

 females, as the more mixed the breeding, the less stable are the in- 

 herent characteristics of the individual, and therefore the less resistant 

 to improvement. It would be absolutely impracticable to advise all own- 

 ers of common cattle to send their stocks to the block and purchase 

 pure bred foundation stocks; only a few could do this for the following 

 reasons : First, if the great majority now possessed of common stocks 

 were to simultaneously seek to purchase pure bred foundation stocks, 

 they could not get them, they are not in existence, for only about one 

 per cent of the cattle in the United States are possessed of pedigrees. 

 Second, the finances of a great many holders of common stock are- not 

 such as to allow them to make extensive purchases of pedigreed animals, 

 and. replacement is out of the question, as it would require the returns 

 from the sale of three or four common animals to purchase one pedi- 

 greed one. Third, it is highly desirable for breeders to grow into any 

 line of pure breeding rather than to buy into it suddenly, and take up 

 a work in which experience is necessary. 



In general, then, it is necessary for the majority of holders of com- 

 mon stock to make the best use of the animals on hand, with a view 

 to improving them. Let us suppose the case of a herd of common, or 

 mixed cattle of say eighteen head, and apply a plan of improvement. 

 The first thing for the owner of this herd to do, is to decide upon some 

 one line of production, either beef or dairy, and then stand by the reso- 

 lution. Without this he cannot improve his herd, for the animals of 

 mixed breeding are largely the result of frequent change of purpose. 

 Suppose in this case, that the owner has decided to go into the dairy 

 business; that being the case, the next thing to do will be to look over 

 the herd of eighteen, and decide which ones are so possessed of dairy 

 type and characteristics as to warrant their being used in the business 

 They can be divided into three classes, such as best, medium and in- 

 ferior, from a dairy standpoint. Then, in the majority of cases, it will 

 be found to be a decided advantage to send the six inferior ones to the 

 block and use the remaining twelve for the foundation herd. Having 

 selected the females to be retained, the next and one of the most im- 

 portant steps is to decide upon the breed to be used in improvement. 



