456 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



VALUE OF THE DAIRY SIRE. 



BY HUGH G. VAN PELT. 



The subject assigned to me is not only one of vast importance as it 

 pertains to improving dairy conditions, but it is broad in its scope. It 

 permits ttie speaker to treat upon the selection as well as the care, 

 handling and feeding of the dairy sire. Volumes can be and have been 

 written on these various phases. I shall treat only oil suggestions per- 

 taining to the selection of the sire. It is the most important phase 

 of the subject and in too many instances given too little thought and 

 study. The judgment and discretion used in selecting bulls determine 

 the future of the herd. Success in breeding any class of live stock de- 

 pends upon the character of the sires. So often has it been said the sire 

 is half the herd that we have learned to believe but not, in a large 

 percentage of cases, to heed it. The statement is true, however, and 

 radical as it may appear it is not sufficiently sweeping to illustrate the 

 worth of a good sire or the worthlessness of a poor one, for given a 

 herd of cows the sire is the controlling factor in establishing or eliminat- 

 ing the quality of the herd from the standpoint of breeding. 



No breeder of live stock has ever made advancement who has not 

 recognized this fact and unless you are willing to make it your plan 

 to use only sires that bear the stamp of excellence, your herds will 

 deteriorate rather than improve regardless of all other factors. It is 

 true that proper care and feeding are necessary and of vital importance, 

 but reckless breeding can never be corrected by good feeding any more 

 than poor feeding can be corrected by careful breeding. These go 

 hand in hand and one without the other spells failure as surely as the 

 two together assure success. 



POOR SIRE A MONEY LOSER. 



There is no logical reason why any intelligent dairyman should use 

 a poor sire. There is no scarcity of good animals and no breeder of 

 dairy cattle should use a poor bull as long as there is a good one in 

 America. I wonder how many have really thought how differently good 

 and poor sires affect your herd and your bank account. Here is an 

 example that is being demonstrated every year on thousands of American 

 farms. A dairyman has fifty fairly good cows averaging 200 pounds of fat 

 annually. He is sure he needs a bull. He makes his selection almost 

 wholly from the standpoint of cost and prides himself on being shrewd 

 when he places a bull at the head of his herd which, although pure bred, 

 cost but little, and is worth less. He uses him two years, or until his 

 first daughters come into milk. Granting 50 per cent of his calves are 

 heifers, and allowing a 20 per cent death loss, he has sired forty cows. 

 These cows yield annually only 190 pounds of butter-fat, or ten pounds 

 less than their mothers. This loss, at 30 cents per pound, equals $3 

 per year for each cow — $120 per year for the forty. Not so much, but 



