THG JOURNAL 





OP 



Tfie department of Mgncufture. 



Vol. VI. Part 8. 10th Aug-ust, 1908. 



THE BREEDING, SELECTION, AND CARE OF THE 



DAIRY COW. 



J . M. B. Connor , Dairy Supervisor. 



Methods of breeding domesticated cattle for tiie purposes to wliicli 

 thev are especially adapted have beeil'^'practised from the earliest times. 

 The oldest writers on cattle breeding give directions for the breeding and 

 improvement of the dairy cow, and their precepts are often repeated by 

 modern authorities as being incapable of improvement at the present day. 



Acquired Characteristics from Parents. 



It has long been known that the characteristics of the parents are 

 transmitted to their offspring, and the expression "Like produces like" 

 is often used. There are, however, many apparent exceptions to this 

 law ; but a close examination into all the facts relating to hereditary 

 transmission will prove that it is not only constant in its action, but 

 extends to every feature of the organization. The uniformity observed 

 in the various breeds of cattle is the result of the inheritance of the 

 characters that adapt them to the conditions under which they were 

 originated and developed. Some of the most striking illustrations of 

 this form of heredity are to be found in the development of the improved 

 breeds of dairy cattle. 



Every farmer, in attempting to breed for the improvement of his 

 herd, ought to bear in mind that the hereditary power of the animal, that 

 is, the power of transmitting its qualities to its offspring, is constantlv 

 cumulative; provided the animal has been bred on correct lines. For 

 example, the general law that '"Like produces like," is undoubtedly 

 correct upon general principles ; the difficulty is in a w^ant of knowledge 

 as to the inherited qualities and characteristics of the two animals which 

 are brought together. Thev may appear to the naked eye to be alike, 

 and yet there may be, and often are, very marked differences in yielding 

 capacity and other such-like qualities. If thev in turn have been bred 

 from parents with " like " qualities and are alike in all their peculiarities, 

 the offspring will not only be like the parents, but will have their char- 

 acteristics more strongly marked ; that is, the essential characteristics in 

 which the parents are alike will be intensified in the offspring — the power 



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