106 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



On the other side of the door there were 98 10-gallon cans and six 60- 

 pound butter tubs, representing the products — 8,466 pounds milk and 

 350 pounds butter fat — produced by a granddaughter of the scrub cow 

 just mentioned. This improvement in production was the direct result 

 of the use of registered sires for grading-up purposes. It showed vividly 

 that by breeding a scrub cow to a registered sire, and then breeding her . 

 progeny to another registered sire the production of the latter was in- 

 creased over 100 per cent. It was a lesson that we hope went home to 

 a great many farmers who are still using scrub sires and whose herds, 

 as a result, are no better today than they were 20 or 30 years ago. 

 Whereas, by the use of registered sires it is possible within five or six 

 years to double the producing capacity of a herd of dairy cows. 



Inside this tent, as mentioned before, were a number of cows further 

 emphasizing the importance of breeding and of selection in building up 

 productive herds. Four cows in particular illustrated that breeding 

 alone is not sufficient to make substantial improvement in a herd of cattle, 

 but that it must be accompanied by careful selection. In other words, 

 it taught the lesson that all grades, and this applies with equal force to 

 pure-breds, are not equal. The mere fact that an animal has a pedigree 

 is not all-sufficient in itself. There are so-called scrub grades as well as 

 scrub pure-breds and it is these scrubs that must be eliminated if sub- 

 stantial and rapid improvement is to be effected. 



Two cows, daughters of the same sire and out of half sisters, stood 

 side by side. They had produced, as two-year-olds, as follows: one, 9,911 

 pounds milk and 459 pounds butter fat, and the other 5,366 pounds milk 

 and 264 pounds butter fat. There was, therefore, a difference of nearly 

 100 per cent in the productive capacity of these two daughters of the 

 same sire. Two other cows stood next to these. They were daughters 

 of the same cow. As three-year-olds their records were as follows: one 

 had produced 9,508 pounds milk and 420 pounds fat, and the other 

 5,116 pounds milk and 249 pounds fat. Here, again, one of these cows 

 produced nearly 100 per cent more than the other. The lesson taught 

 by these four cows, each two of which were similarly bred, was that 

 careful selection must accompany good breeding in order to obtain de- 

 sired results. The poor producers must be weeded out and the better 

 ones retained in the herd for breeding purposes. 



Two other cows — a halfblood Holstein, three years old, had produced 

 4,594 pounds milk and 209 pounds fat in a year. A three-quarter-blood 

 Holstein, also a three-year-old, had produced 8,466 pounds milk and 356 

 pounds fat, illustrating again the value of continued improvement. 

 Placards called attention to the fact that milk scales and the Babcock 

 test are the best and most impartial judges of the productive capacity 

 of a cow. You cannot tell by the looks of a cow whether she is a good 

 producer or not. In other words, the selection must not be based upon 

 physical characteristics, but upon actual results at the pail as measured 

 by the scales and the test. 



Elsewhere on the grounds were some figures bearing upon this same 

 subject. It was shown that as a result of four years of testing 10 

 herds of the Cedar Valley Cow-Testing Association, milk production was 



