ANIMAL BREEDING 663 



If an old and proved sire can be had, that is the sire to buy, 

 but ordinarily sires of this kind are not obtainable, for, if they 

 are really tested sires, they are usually held in the herd that 

 tested them until their period of usefulness is over. If, however, 

 one is available, it is a treasure that should not go begging, 

 as it often does. If the young breeder would make it a rule to 

 buy only old, tested sires, though there is no virtue in old 

 sires per se, he would do better breeding than many another 

 with long experience behind him who is constantly accumula- 

 ting excellence and as constantly dissipating it by the use of 

 untested sires. 



The writer has conducted an extensive correspondence with 

 breeders of cattle on this point, and has found that the almost 

 universal practice is to buy a young bull, probably a yearling, 

 and put him at once into service on the entire herd. This is 

 business suicide, for it constitutes a bar to any very high degree 

 of success and is, besides, extremely dangerous. It is headed 

 straight for mediocrity within the breed of course, but it is 

 mediocrity nevertheless. 



Testing young sires. This test, to be most valuable, should 

 be made on some of the better females of the herd, whose 

 breeding powers are known. It would be folly to use the very 

 choicest individuals, for they are needed for more certain work 

 with the tested sire at the head ; but something must be known 

 about the females on which even the preliminary test is made, 

 or it is of little value. 



As all young things look promising, this test will not be 

 worth much until the young have neared maturity. To be sure, 

 some individuals will be so unpromising as to show it at birth, 

 or soon after, but very many mediocre animals will not make 

 their mediocrity manifest until maturity approaches. They then 

 exhibit their inability to take on the finer finish and the better 

 touches that go with the breed. 



On this point experience is full. One of the finest sucking colts 

 ever known to the writer was exceedingly perfect as a yearling, 

 gave good promise as a two-year-old, commenced to fall away as 

 a three-year-old, and before he was five had developed into a 

 veritable " pelter " with ewe neck and sway back. 



