SESSION 



Missouri State Dairy Association. 



An abbreviated report of the meetings held during Farmers' Week 

 in the Agricultural College, January 9-10, 1908. 



THE TRANSMISSION OF DAIRY QUALITIES BY THE SIRE. 



(O. H. Eckles, Professor of Dairy Husbandry, Missouri Agricultural College.) 



It has long been an axiom of the breeder that the sire is half 

 the herd, and it is generally accepted as a fit expression of an im- 

 portant rule. 



The skillful breeder of any kind of stock does not need to have 

 it pointed out to him how important it is that the sire be properly 

 selected. If he is a skillful breeder, it is largely because he realizes 

 the importance of the sire and knows how to select him. While 

 the skilled breeder realizes the importance of this breeding, the 

 average dairyman does not give the question of the selection of the 

 sire one-tenth the attention, the importance of the quetsion de- 

 mands. 



Thousands of men make use of a scrub or grade sire on account 

 of mistaken economy in cost rather than pay a few dollars more 

 for an animal that is almost certain to transmit desirable qualities. 

 It is not surprising that we have so many worthless cows. They 

 come by their worthlessness in the majority of the cases from sires 

 worse than worthless. Some of these scrub bulls are registered 

 in the herd books. 



The most forcible means I have at hand to illustrate the re- 

 markable difference in sires is to show some results from our awn 

 herd. In 1884 the Missouri Agricultural College bought four regis- 

 tered Jersey cows, and the entire herd we have on hand today is 

 descended from these cows. Of course, herd bulls have been pur- 

 chased from outside, but no female has been bought. Since 1892 



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