358 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



annually instead of biennially. In a few years some of the bulls would prove 

 to be better breeders than others, some for example would be found to trans- 

 mit milk producing qualities to a greater extent than others and this would 

 especially be true where dairy sires were used or where iShorthorn bulls of a 

 milking strain were employed. It would afford an excellent basis on which 

 to make selection. True, this selection could not, in the hands of practical 

 farmers, yield results that would approach scientific accuracy, yet it is be- 

 lieved that it would prove to be a factor of very great importance. The 

 present method of buying or of breeding a young bull, using him for two 

 years and then selling him to the butcher before his breeding value is known 

 is certainly a most wasteful one, to say the least. Hundreds of animals are 

 annually killed, some of which would no doubt have proved to be of supe- 

 rior value. By the time the offspring of these bulls is full grown and before 

 the bull's prepotency can be measured in terms of his get, he has gone to the 

 shambles. Aside from this, a bull is not at his best for breeding purposes 

 until after he is four years old, provided his powers have not been overtaxed 

 which they never are in a small farmers herd of from fifteen to twenty cows, 

 even though he runs in the pasture with them. 



The manner in which comparisons of the breeding value or the prepotency 

 of these bulls could be made can readily be understood upon a moment's 

 reflection. After five years' service each bull will have been used in five 

 different herds and hence there will be calves in each of these herds from the 

 same cows but from different bulls. Each year's crop of calves can be com- 

 pared with that of the previous year, which will serve as a means of com- 

 paring the value of the bulls. Some simple records should be made each 

 year to serve in future years as an aid to interpret the comparative worth 

 of other sires. If these farmers were using dairy bulls, the comparison 

 would naturally be made with the heifers in their capacity as milk and but- 

 ter producers. If bull No. 1, for example, distinguished himself as a pro- 

 ducer of heifers of high butter and milk producing qualities in the majority 

 of herds in which he had served for the first five or six years, it would be 

 evident that he was the best animal. In order to perpetuate his superior 

 blood it would, of course, be necessary to breed him to a registered female 

 but plenty of such cows would be found among these farmers, in fact, it is 

 almost a foregone conclusion that each man would provide himself either at 

 once or a little later on, with a pure-bred heifer since he would be assured 

 the use of a registered sire for at least ten years. This superior bull and 

 some of his sons entitled to registration would then naturally furnish the 

 foundation stock for future generations or they could be sold at big prices. 



This method of co-operation then has the following to recommend it: 

 First, the full value would be obtained from each bull and thereby the un- 

 necessary usual depreciation in value at the end of three years avoided; 

 second, the bulls would not have to be slaughtered before they reached their 

 prime, and third, the breeding value of each bull could be tested and su- 

 perior individuals be found to serve as foundation stock for other herds and 

 the progeny of the very best could be retained by these farmers themselves; 

 fourth, if this method were intoduced it would prove of immense value to 

 the cattle breeders of the country because the demand for pure-bred stock 

 would be greatly increased and it would be of still greater value to the 

 farnxers and of incalculable benefit to the country at large. The writer 



