A NORMAL COAT 



Head of the normal calf whose mouth is shown in Fig. 8, for comparison with the defec- 

 tive calf shown in Fig. 9. The contrasting length of the hair on the head is visible where 

 it overlaps the halter strap behind the lower jaw. (Fig. 10.) 



of the calf shown in Fig 9, the same 

 animal as that in Fig. 7, is noticeably 

 smoother than that of the calf in Fig. 

 10, the same individual used for com- 

 parison of the teeth in Fig. 8. Note, for 

 example, how the hair at the angle of 

 the lower jaw overlaps the halter strap 

 in Fig. 10, showing that it is considerably 

 longer than on the other calf. The 

 coat also seemed thicker, but I cannot 

 make a definite statement as to this. 



Two calves born in the herd the 

 previous year, and from this same sire, 

 resembled the one described above in 

 having a deficiency of hair, but no 

 examination was made of their teeth, 

 the correlation of the two at that time 

 not being suspected. Whether the bull 

 when young was similarly deficient in 

 hair was not known. 



To sum up, a purebred Holstein- 

 Friesian sire with defective front teeth, 

 bred to purebred Holstein-Friesian 

 cows, produced in two successive years 

 five calves with deficient coats, three 



of which are known to have had de- 

 fective dentition corresponding to the 

 condition of the sire. In the same 

 season this bull sired some fifteen or 

 twenty normal calves from dams in 

 the same herd. There would appear 

 to be a correlation between the condi- 

 tion of the coat and the deficient and 

 defective teeth. Furthermore, since the 

 bull was not born on the place, and all 

 the calves, normal as well as defective, 

 were reared under similar conditions, 

 it seems probable that the condition is 

 to be attributed to some genetic cause 

 rather than to factors of the environ- 

 ment or to faulty nutrition. It is 

 probably not comparable, for example, 

 to hairlessness in new-born pigs, which 

 is referable to thyroid conditions due 

 to deficiencies in the diet of the sow. 

 The question of the inheritance of the 

 condition in the calves could not be 

 carried further, as it was the intention 

 of the breeder to eliminate all the 

 defective stock from his herd. 



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