Part III 



THE BULL 



Better Dairy Farming Through Better Breeding 



CHAPTER XII 



THE IDEAL BULL 



We assume in urging certain principles upon our breeders by- 

 use of which they may make more money in better dairy farming, 

 that they are all interested in improving their own herds by breed- 

 ing and raising better cows of their own breeds and the feeding 

 out of the young stock to proper maturity. 



181. A pure bred bull on every farm.— If a man is to im- 

 prove his herd through breeding, then the bull is the all-important 

 factor. First of all, the bull must be a purebred. There is no 

 argument for using a grade bull. Not even the money argument 

 can be used any longer because pure bred bulls can be purchased 

 for very small sums as calves. Hugh Van Pelt, a veteran breeder 

 of Jerseys, says in the "Dairy Farmer" of August 1, 1922, that we are 

 registering only about 75,000 pure bred bull calves each year and 

 175,000 are being slaughtered. We need four million pure bred 

 sires to have a pure bred sire on every farm where cows are milked. 

 If every pure bred bull were saved it would take 20 years to get a 

 pure bred bull on every farm. 



- 182. Strive for improvement. — Due to the continued pound- 

 ing of leaders in the dairy business and extension workers on the 

 idea that pure bred sires must be from dams with advanced registry 

 records, if we are going to have improvement, perhaps farmers 

 have got the idea that they can get along just as well with scrub 

 and grade sires as they could with pure bred sires from dams that 

 have not been tested for advanced registry. Also breeders having 

 herds of pure bred cattle have at times taken the point of view that 



117 



