176 TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



were "weeded out" and their places taken by two-year-old grade 

 heifers, one purebred cow, and one purebred two-year-old heifer. 

 The end of the third year's work showed that the average milk 

 production had been increased over 71 per cent., the butter-fat 

 60 per cent., and the average net profit per cow increased from 

 $22.12 to $75.00, or 239 per cent. 



Selection of the dairy bull. If fifteen or twenty dairy bulls 

 are brought before a judge recognized as competent, and he is 

 asked to pick out the bull that will sire the highest-producing 

 cows, he will be unable to do so with any degree of certainty 

 by studying their individualities. He may easily eliminate 

 some of them because of lack of constitution, weak masculinity, 

 or because they show a decided tendency towards fleshiness. 

 Having such faults, he is reasonably certain that they will not 

 prove sure breeders, or that their heifer calves will not develop 

 into high producers. Having eliminated certain ones, there 

 will probably be several bulls remaining that have no serious 

 faults in conformation, and among these it is mere guesswork 

 to attempt to select the most successful sire. Whereas the beef 

 bull carries his evidence of merit upon his back, the true value 

 of the dairy bull can only be judged by the kind of cows in his 

 ancestry, the kind of cows he sires, or by both. The judging 

 of dairy bulls in the show ring is much less conducive to good 

 results in the improvement qf cattle than is the judging of beef 

 bulls. 



As a general rule, when valuing a purebred animal, more 

 emphasis should be placed upon individuality than upon pedi- 

 gree; but the dairy bull is an exception. On a basis of 100 

 points given to. the bull's selection, it is conservative to state 

 that 40 points should be allotted to his individuality, and 60 

 points to the records of performance in his pedigree. All pure- 

 bred dairy bulls have pedigrees, but in many cases no records 

 were kept of the production of their female ancestors; in such 

 cases the pedigree has no special significance, and little im- 

 portance can be attached to it. When records of performance 

 of the ancestors are available, the bull is said to have a "pedigree 

 with performance," and to such a pedigree much attention should 

 be given when selecting a bull. 



If the bull is matured and has been long enough in service 

 so that he has heifers in milk, they furnish the best evidence of 

 the bull's value as a breeder. In this connection, however, the 

 dams of the heifers must be studied, as the seeming success of 



