EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII. 2(59 



cows brought $75 to $100. This the result of the introduction of pure 

 bred dairy sires for the last few years. Will steers pay any better than 

 this even after they are fed? The demand for the dairy cow will not be 

 supplied for some years. The west and southwest are taking them by the 

 carload, while Mexico and Japan are sending their representatives here 

 for our best pure breds and grades of the different dairy breeds. The 

 yearly record of Colantha 4th's Johanna, now drawing to a close, in which 

 she has produced 1,021.66 pounds of butter, 85.7% basis, in ten months 

 and nine days, is another evidence of what a cow, bred for a purpose, is 

 capable of doing, while the records of Yeksa, Sunbeam, Dolly Bloom and 

 Loetta D. are fresh in the minds of all. I would advise, where it is pos- 

 sible to do so, that in introducing pure bred sires a neighborhood agree 

 on some one breed and use sires of this breed. The buyer for your sur- 

 plus stock is much easier to attract, and the changing of bulls with a 

 neighbor is simplified. The most common error of today is the sending of 

 so many mature sires to the butcher's block and the use of immature 

 bulls. 



It is now a well established fact that only the best results in breeding 

 can be obtained by the use of highly developed, mature ancestry on both 

 sides. Of the forty-three stallions that have sired more than one trotter 

 with records of 2:10 or better, all except four were developed stallions 

 with records, and three of the four were known to possess extreme speed 

 and were, in fact, highly developed, although without technical records. 



Hereditary traits are handed down for many generations in animals. 

 It is said of the dog, which turns round and round before lying down, 

 that he is simply displaying a tendency he has inherited from his remote 

 ancestry, the wild dog, that made its bed in the tall grass by turning 

 round and round. It takes several generations of breeding to get any 

 trait well established. The Scotch Collie might in years be bred so that 

 he would show much the same tendencies as the hunting dog, but what 

 would be the object when we have in the pointer those traits well es- 

 tablished. 



Along this same line of reasoning, why should the dairyman take up a 

 breed of cattle that has been bred and reared for generations for the pro- 

 duction of beef when he has at least four dairy breeds to make his selec- 

 tions from that have been bred for a purpose and have demonstrated 

 their ability to pay their way and make a profit for their owners. 



Care and feed have as much to do with your success as the cow. Do 

 not get the notion that you have finished your task when you have a lot 

 of good cows about you, for you have just made a beginning. Only re- 

 cently the Iowa cow was producing an average of 140 pounds of butter per 

 cow. Our best authorities say now that we have her up to about 150 

 pounds, about half what she should produce. 



The dairy business in our state is only in its infancy. We little realize 

 its possibilities. The fact that the cow returns to our land a larger per 

 cent of fertility than any other farm animal is sure to make her a strong 

 factor in our economic calculations in the future. The professional grain 

 raiser and soil robber has one friend on whom he has never called in 

 vain — the dairy cow. 



