102 LIVESTOCK ON THE FARM 



animal to be registered shall be pure bred, or on record. 

 Thus it is impossible to bring any new blood into the breed. 

 And no matter how good or how high a grade linimal one has, 

 it cannot be registered. 



During the early time of the history of the breeds the rules 

 were such that a good grade animal with a certain number of 

 crosses of pure blood could be registered. But as the associa- 

 tions became older and the number of pure-bred animals 

 larger and the number of grades smaller, the rules were gradu- 

 ally changed so that now in the main, only animals with pure- 

 bred ancestors on both sides can be registered. This in the 

 main is right. But one of the best dams ever seen by the 

 writer was a non-registered one and she could not be registered. 

 In cases like this, the work of the registry associations might 

 be improved, if these good animals could be recorded. This 

 might be done by inspection, by a breeding trial, etc. 



Some of the registration associations also have rules to 

 the effect that animals must be registered before they reach a 

 certain age. Thus by oversight or neglect some of the best 

 pure-bred animals may become non-eligible. 



GESTATION 



The period of gestation is the time during which the foetus 

 develops in the womb of the dam. It is the time from concep- 

 tion to delivery and varies with different animals. With 

 the mare it is about eleven months. The cow carries her 

 calf about nine months and a week. The ewe drops her lamb 

 about five months or 152 days after service, and the sow 

 farrows about 114 days, or three months, three weeks and three 

 days after she is bred. At the time dams are bred they should 

 be in good condition physically and should be kept gaining 

 rather than losing during the period of gestation. 



Sometimes one hears it said that the young in the womb of 

 the dam, or the foetus, is subject to various influences. That 

 is, it may be influenced by the fact that the dam previously 

 was bred to a different kind of a sire, or that the dam, while 

 the foetus is being developed, has unusual experiences by 

 sight, hearing, sensation, etc. But most of the best authorities 

 agree now that such are not the facts and that the foetus 



