presented the desired characteristics should be coupled, and, 

 thirdly, he rejected unsparingly, especially from among the males, 

 all animals that did not come up to his high standard. Lord 

 Rivers, a successful breeder of greyhounds, attributed his suc- 

 cess to his rule of "breeding many and hanging many," and 

 with cattle, though not in the same degree, there will always be 

 some animals which are only fit for the butcher. It is upon ihis 

 important point of knowiiig when it is necessary, and then dar- 

 ing to use the kniic that the success of a breeder in a great 

 measure depends. 



In selecting a bull for breeding purposes we have said that he 

 should not only be thorough-bred but well-bred, and moreover he 

 should have merits of hi;; own. 



Let us see what some of those merits should be in a dairy 

 breed. Thaer, in speaking of the choice of males, says that 

 "most breeders are too much guided by certain conventional 

 beauty of form, which in many cases is not really the most de- 

 sirable characteristic," and again, "that a broad front is much 

 valued by some persons ; for my own part, I prefer that the an- 

 imal's hind quarters should be in good proportion to the front. 

 First, that when he leaps the cow, he may be able to keep him- 

 self up without pressing too heavily upon her, and secondly, be- 

 cause a strong croup appears to favor a large secretion of milk 

 — I likewise prefer a bull wilh a long and fine head and thin tail 

 but my chief care is to select one that is the offspring of a good 

 milch cow. 



This last sentence shows that he considered it of greater im- 

 portance than anything else that a bull should be descended 

 from good milking stock — that is well-bred — but among the 

 characteristics, he places a strong croup most prominently 



Some of the points, as laid down by the Royal Jersey Agri" 

 cultural Society, for a bull, would be applicable to any dairy 



