THE IDEAL BULL 



119 



No misunderstanding should arise from the above argument. 

 The bull is more than one-half the herd. Farmers should learn this 

 first of all. In the herd of 20 cows the bull influences every one 

 of the 20 offspring. Each one of the 20 cows can only influence 

 one offspring in any one year. Therefore, since the hereditary 

 contribution of the bull is on the average one-half of each of the 



Fern's Wexford Noble 172066 

 Grand Champion Jersey bull, at the National Dairy Show, 1922. Owned 

 by Twin Oaks Farm, Morristown, N. J. 



offspring produced each year, the influence of the bull on the 

 productivity of the herd and on the uniformity of the herd is as 

 great or greater than the influence of all the cows put together. 

 This seems hard to believe, but the hereditary contribution of the 

 cows is very divergent because there are 20 of them, but the he- 

 reditary contribution of the bull is the same in the case of every 

 heifer produced from him. 



185. Buy the best you can.— Therefore, we see the tremen- 

 dous reason for having the best bull that we can possibly afford. 



