HOW TO BUILD A HERD OF DAIRY COWS 31 



good pure-bred male, all efforts to keep a profitable 

 herd will fail. Great breeders of all times and of 

 all classes of stock have made the selection of the 

 sire not only their most important study but also a 

 life-long study. 



Many farmers are content to use any bull as long 

 as he has ability to get the cow in calf. This may 

 be suitable where heredity is simply a matter of 

 shape and substance, such as for slaughter stock. 

 But when we deal with more highly organised 

 animals of delicate temperament Nature's laws work 

 with much less certainty, for dairy cattle are usually 

 highly artificial creations, and therefore successful 

 sires that is, those having the ability to transmit 

 their nervous temperament so necessary to their 

 heifers are comparatively rare, and he should 

 therefore be pure bred, as being more reliable in 

 stamping his progeny with the characteristics bred 

 in him. 



In discussing the qualities of the dairy bull 

 many things must be taken into consideration. It 

 is not enough that he should belong to any known 

 pure breed, or that he have a good form and sub- 

 stance as a bull, but there are other qualities to be 

 considered which may not appear to be in the 

 animal himself but which we must seek for in his 

 pedigree. By pedigree we do not mean mere prize- 

 winning of ancestors at exhibitions and in competi- 

 tion with other animals of their kind. His dam 



