State Dairy Association. 381 



of the animal. The things to be looked for in the pedigree are, first 

 of all, records of production by the dam of the animal, if you are 

 breeding for milk production. If you are breeding for show ani- 

 mals get a descendant of show animals. 



There are some who refuse to have a bull from the phenominal 

 record-making cows for fear the vitality of the calf will be weak- 

 ened. I belong to the large majority who want the dam to have 

 the highest record possible, other things being equal. I do not ex- 

 pect more than a few of her close descendents will inherit this high 

 quality, but the chances are better for them to average up well than 

 they would be from a cow of lower productive capacity. 



There is a general belief among breeders that the character- 

 istics of the dam of the sire are transmitted stronger to his daugh- 

 ters than are the characteristics of any other single animal among 

 the ancestors. How much there is in this belief, I am not prepared 

 to say. 



Next in importance to the dam's records comes the records 

 of the sire's daughters. If the bull has sired many high testing 

 daughters, it is a good evidence, but not certain, that his son will 

 also transmit these characters. Third in importance comes the 

 grand dams and son on through the pedigree. The pedigree of 

 Lome of Meridale is a good example of a pedigree strong in records, 

 and having every indication a pedigree, can show that these char- 

 acters will be transmitted as proved to be the case. The pedigree 

 of Hugorotus shows only three tested cows, of which only one is 

 as close as the third generation. The judgment that would be 

 passed upon these two bulls from a study of their pedigrees would 

 be the same as was the results in actual trial. It must not be 

 expected, however, that the pedigree will always be as accurate an 

 index of the value of the animal as it is in this case. 



It should be kept in mind always that it is much more im- 

 portant to have a good animal for parent than a noted animal back 

 in the third or fourth generation. I frequently hear men speak of 

 having a Golden Lad, a Stoke Pogis, or a De Kol bull, and when 

 you examine the pedigree, the animal mentioned is found in the 

 third or fourth generation, which means they consider the most 

 important fact about the bull to be the six and one-fourth of twelve 

 and one-half per cent, of the blood of the noted bull he may carry. 

 The close anscestors are the ones that count. 



Care should be taken to discriminate between official records 

 and private records of milk and butter production, especially where 

 the latter are churn tests that test the ability of the butter- 



