166 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 March, 1917. 



THE VALUE OF A PURE-BRED DAIRY SIRE. 



B// R. R. Kerr, Dairi/ Supervisor. 



Of the many desirable changes in the evolution of the dairying 

 industry, nothing is more needful than a closer perception of the prin- 

 ciples governing the breeding and management of our dairy cattle. 

 Many useful articles have from time to time appeared in the pages of 

 this Journal , but evidently it is only by keeping this matter in the lime- 

 light that the desired results will be achieved. 



No business institution would long remain solvent if worked on the 

 same lines as many farmers conduct theirs — many appear to pay their 

 way — the farmer forgetting the value of his own labour and ofttimes 

 that of his children. 



We do not expect thai every farmer should bc' an accountant, nor 

 yet understand all of Mendel's theories, but he should practise the 

 fundamental principles of his business, and be a closer student of 

 economics. 



The use of mongrel or crossbred sires is a costly procedure, resulting 

 in continual depreciation of our dairying stock; it cannot be denied that 

 daixy cattle in -some cf our dairying districts are not as good a type as 

 they were a few years ago, the result of using inferior bulls. 



A visit to a district where the farmers are aware of the value of a 

 pure sire, and act on their opinions, is a revelation. Such was my privi- 

 lege recently. The results proved what an immense amount of benefit 

 the stud dairy herds exercised in that district. T?he farmers secured 

 the young bulls at a fair price, and a mongrel sire was seldom seen . 

 Jerseys seemed to be the mainstay, but the results would be ^just the 

 same with other breeds if the opportunity had occurred. A dairy herd 

 may be able to withstand temporarily one or two robber cows — all 

 untested herds do — but no stock-breeder will ever achieve much success 

 by the use of an inferior sire. 



The robber cow exercises her influence only over her own j^rogeny, 

 but, in the case of a bull, his influence fcr good or evil is distributed 

 through every calf that he sires — perhaps fifty in the course of a year. 



There is no excuse for any farmer selecting bulls from untested cows, 

 as the Government herd test records j>rovide a wide field for selection 

 in that direction. 



Frequently dairymen hold the shilling so close to the eye that it is 

 impossible to see the pound a little further off, and that is just what a 

 man is doing who has a good grade herd, and thinks he is economizing 

 by buying and using a common sire. The average-sized dairy herd would 

 be about 40 cows in the main dairying districts, and probably twelve 

 heifer calves would be reared from the Ijest cows, and at least ten of 

 them would inherit the great producing ability of the sire's dam and 

 grand-dam if he was of the apjn'oved type. 



A good dairy sire will remain useful up to eight or ten years or more 

 if judiciously used, but for the present Ave will assume he was used for 

 lhre-» years by Mr. Smith, who had a vei-y good grade herd, averaging 

 annually over a number of vears 500 gallons of 4 per cent, milk (con- 

 siderably above the State average). Mr. Smith fed his cows very well, 

 he had been using an ordinary bull, and noticed the resultant progeny 

 were no improvement, and in many cases lower producers than their 

 dams. 



