180 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of stock companies in the ownership of stallions. In this instance, 

 however, it is only fair to venture the assertion that the initial troubles 

 among these companies is generally the fault of the organizer or j)ro- 

 moter, the seller of males, who unloads something on the company that 

 does not prove satisfactory. One cannot conceive of any logical rea- 

 sons why several men in a community could not form a co-partnership 

 in the ownership and use of good sires. If such a plan could be fol- 

 lowed, the good influences of superior sires would become more far 

 reaching and fewer males in all would be needed than in the case of 

 individual ownership. At present pedigreed males are usually intro- 

 duced into a community by individauls. These men usually possess 

 small herds and the oRe sire could be used upon a number of other 

 herds, providing the neighboring owners could but see the advantage 

 to be gained thereby. But, at present the man Avho introduces a good 

 male and offers his services at a reasonable price, does not greatly 

 benefit his community, as the prevailing practice is to patronize the 

 sire offered at the smallest fee, and this is always the grade or scrub. 

 The scrub is likely to flourish and continue to be used until such time 

 as national or state legislation places a prohibitive tax on him. The 

 form of co-operation discussed would be particularly suited to thickly 

 settled communities where the farms- and holdings of cattle are small, 

 •and' consequently close together. In general, it is the men with the 

 smaller holdings of cattle who resort most to mixed breeding, and who 

 are in greatest need of good sires. 



It is highly desirable for the various breeders in a community to 

 co-operate in other ways in addition to that just referred to. Great 

 advantages would accrue from unity of purpose and methods in breed- 

 ing. One of the great difficulties existing today is found in the fact 

 that the blood of altogether too many breeds of a given species is to 

 be found in each community ; this facilitates the admixture of the blood 

 of various breeds. There is really no occasion for the use of so many 

 breeds; in fact there are some notable disadvantages. There is no disput- 

 ing the fact that individual likes and dislikes vary greatly, but it never- 

 theless seems to be the case, that if one man introduces a certain breed, 

 his nearest neighbor will at once introduce another, apparently for no 

 other purpose than to have something different, whereas, if they were 

 both using the same blood it would work to their mutual advantage. 



Probably it would not be wise to advocate a single breed of cattle, 

 for instance, for each community, but it would unquestionably be wise 

 to limit the breeds to those only which are peculiarly adapted to the 

 conditions of each community and the lines of production therein pur- 

 sued. The greatest success that has been achieved in the history of 

 animal breeding has occurred where there were harmonious community 

 interests, and but one principal line of breeding. Examples are num- 

 erous, for instance. Jerseys only have been bred on the Isle of Jersey, 

 Holsteins in Holland, and all the leading breeds of cattle and sheep 

 in England and Scotland were each developed largely within one or 

 more counties or shires, to the almost total exclusion of other breeds 

 of the same species. That county in Michigan, noted more than any 

 other today for its Holstein cattle, is the one possessed of the greatest 

 number of Holstein breeders, who are organized and possess some 



