88 GuENON ON Milch Cows. 



the dam, each contribute to their offspring, on the average, exactly the 

 same proportion of their excellences or defects. 



Some bulls are so powerfully organized, as to be able to stamp their quali- 

 ties, good or bad, on nearly ever^- one of their progeny', as are some cows ; 

 but these are the rare exceptions. Each contribute the same, as a rule. No 

 scientific investigator of the breeding problem, or careful breeder, would 

 any sooner select the offspring of a 600 pound butter cow, got by a bull 

 from a 200 pound butter family, than he would a heifer got by a full brother 

 to the 600 pound butter cow from a full sister to the 200 pound butter bull. 



Using a bull from a 400 pound butter family, on heifers from a 200 pound 

 butter family, is just as likel}' to produce heifers that will make from two 

 hundred to four hundred pounds of butter annuall}", averaging a jield of 

 three hundred pounds ; as the using of a bull from a 200 pound butter 

 famih^ on cows of a 400 pound butter famil}', would be to reduce the yield 

 of some of the heifers to two hundred pounds, and the average to three 

 hundred pounds. The mcreasing the butter jield of the heifers from a herd 

 of cows one half by using a bull on them from a family or breed that make 

 twice as much, or the reverse, can be relied upon as certainl}' as any ex- 

 pected result in the most uncertain of all business, namely ; that of breeding. 



If these statements are correct, what had a farmer better pay for a bull 

 from a 400 pound butter family, to use on his herd of ten 200 pound butter 

 cows, rather than use a bull from a 200 pound butter family ? 



It may be said that the keeping would cost more, because the higher bred 

 product must be kept better. There is some truth in this, but the better 

 keeping would affect favorably the poorer animals as well, and whatever 

 the extra feed. would cost, it would carry the value of the average j-ield as 

 much above the figures we are making, as the extra feed would cost. 



The ten 200 pound butter cows, in ten years would pay a profit of 

 $1,957 30. If the ten cows bred from them, by using the 400 pound butter 

 bull, would make half as much again butter at the same cost, the general 

 product would be increased by one half, and leave the sum to be deducted 

 for keeping the same, for if the two year old 200 pound butter heifer could be 

 raised for $30, so could the better bred one. The profit on each of them, 

 deducting $54 18, cost of cow, will be $484 64— on the ten, $4,846 40, and 

 on the 200 pound butter cows, the profits would be $1,957 30. The ad- 

 vantages reaped by the farmer who has the product for ten years of heifers 

 bred by using the better bull, will be $2,889 10 more than on the 200 pound 

 butter cows. 



If he paid for his bull $1,500, and the bull and all his cows died at twelve 

 years old, the farmer would be as well ofi' as he would have been to have 

 used the 200 pound butter bull. 



But there is no necessity of paying $1,500 for a 400 pound butter bull. 

 One hundred dollars will buy a Jersey bull, six weeks old, from a 400 pound 

 butter family, and he will be old enough to use in twelve months. The 

 $100 paid for him, at six per cent. comi)ound interest, would amount to 

 $191 61, in eleven years. The profit on ten butter cows making three Inni- 

 clred pounds over the ten cows making two hundred pounds in ten years, be- 

 ing $2,800, by deducting the $191 61 for the bull that produced them, (count- 

 ing nothing for the 200 pound butter bull, for he is good-for-notiiing,) the ac- 

 tual advantage reaped by the farmer with intelligence and enterprise enough 

 to secure the better bull, in the ten years after his heifers come in, is over 

 $2,500 on the butter alone. The animals are counted of no value when twelve 

 years old, as the price got for those living beyond that age wouhl average to 

 pay only for the losses caused by accident to animals before reaching that age. 

 These figures take no account of the skim-milk or buttermilk, for they are 



