CHAPTER X 



PUREBREDS OR GRADES? 



We have told what to look for in an ideal cow of any breed. Now 

 shall we be content to have only grades in our herds or shall we 

 have purebreds? 



The title of this book is "Better Dairy Farming." Its purpose 

 is to stimulate those who may read it to greater efforts to make 

 more money and to have a business in which they can take more 

 pride. Better money returns will mean a greater comfort in living. 

 All these things will surely come about faster with purebreds than 

 with grades. 



146. Pure bred sire first. — There can be no argument in the 

 mind of an enlightened man as to the necessity of using pure bred 

 sires. Intelligent farmers are beyond that. "We sa\ T without fear 

 of contradiction that no farmer can afford to use anything but 

 pure bred sires if he is growing any young stock at all or is selling 

 any offspring. The offspring of grade sires will not bring enough 

 in the market today to pay for its production. The whole study 

 must be along the lines of how to select the pure bred sire and how 

 much to pay for him. 



Now, comes the question of whether we shall be content to use 

 only grade females and improve the offspring from them when 

 mated to pure bred males or shall we go in for pure bred females 

 also? Our answer is to go in for as many pure bred females as 

 possible as soon as your pocket book will allow it. 



147. Purebreds produce more than grades. — We will quote 

 two sets of figures to support our argument to induce you to do this. 

 Mr. LeRoy Hoffer of Pennsylvania reports on this point in the 

 "Holstein-Friesian World" as follows: 



"The dairy extension department of the Pennsylvania State 

 College made a study of the records of ten cow-testing associations 

 in seven counties in this state, comparing the production of the pure 

 bred Holstein cows and grade Holstein cows in these associations. 



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