THE EFFECT OF THE AGE OF 



SIRE AND DAM ON THE 



QUALITY OF OFFSPRING 



IN DAIRY COWS 



C. L. Allen 



Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



A FAMOUS HOLSTEIN SIRE 



Figure 10. Ormsby Korndyke Lad (102469) one of the great sires of the Holstein Friesian 

 Breed. His daughters are noted for their high production records for both 7 day and yearly work. 

 He has 18 daugiiters with records of over 30 pounds of butter (80% fat) in 7 days. He also has 

 14 daughters with records of over 1000 pounds of butter (80% fat) in one year. The sire of Ormsby 

 Korndyke Lad was only 23 months of age when he was born and his dam was just a little over 4 

 years of age (51 months). Photograph from Holstein Friesian World. 



THE effect of the age of parents on 

 the qiiahty of the offspring is in a 

 large measure concerned with the 

 idea of cumulative inheritance, par- 

 ticularly if we do not consider the 

 matter of the proven sire or dam. 

 If an animal is a more valuable 

 parent after it has attained maturity, 

 it is more valuable for one of two rea- 

 sons. Either the mature animal must 

 be able, merely because of its full 

 physical development better to im- 



press its characters on its offspring, or 

 the mature animal must in the process 

 of attaining maturity, have become 

 endowed with something, due to train- 

 ing or environment, which it can trans- 

 mit to its progeny. After a century of 

 study, this matter is far from settled 

 and the question as to the possible 

 effect of environment on the transmis- 

 sion of a tendency to increase or de- 

 crease certain quantitative functions 

 is still important. 



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