BUILDING UP A DAIRY HERD. 9 



of which are essential to a prepotent sire. A sire must descend from a 

 strong line of good ancestors, but he must have more than this, he must 

 present unmistakable evidence in his make up of having inherited from these 

 ancestors in a marked degree the qualities and characteristics that are sought 

 for reproduction. 



Depth and spring of rib, indicating feeding capacity, necessarily rank 

 among the characteristics of prime importance in either the sire or the dam. 

 There should be no bad udders in the ancestry back of the bull. This is 

 one of the first requisites of a good dairy sire. There is now and then a good 

 dairy cow with a defective udder; but they are rare and a strictly good, 

 well balanced udder is almost aways a certain indication of good perform- 

 ance at the pail, no matter what breed or type it accompanies. The men 

 who have bred dairy cattle longest and most successfully, are the most exact- 

 ing about the udder. 



The dairy sire should always be selected from a cow of outstanding ex- 

 cellence and from a long line of such ancestry on both sides. No inherent 

 weakness should be tolerated in the ancestors that enter into the pedigree. 

 Under no circumstances should a sire be used from a cow having a defective 

 udder, or a weak constitution, or a lack of feeding capacity. Among the 

 points of excellence sought in the cow, I should place constitution first, 

 dairy quality or function, as indicated by the head, udder and form, sec- 

 ond; breed type and character, third. It is not well to depart too much 

 in either direction from the established standard of size or from the prevail- 

 ing or most popular type. Animals of extreme variation are not likely to 

 reproduce desirable characteristics. An unusual degree of coarseness can 

 better be tolerated in the cow than in the sire. Attractiveness is desirable, but 

 style, finish and beauty must not be sought at the expense of utility. The 

 tendency to recognize one type for the show ring and another for type utility 

 and profitable production, cannot but result injuriously to any breed. It 

 is difficult enough to breed domestic animals successfully to one type or 

 standard of excellence, instead of striving for two distinct standards. Quali- 

 ties that make a cow a profitable producer, should have first consideration 

 in building up a dairy herd. These qualities should be carefully and per- 

 sistently sought and every possible effort exerted to perpetuate and in- 

 tensify them. There are always radical departures from the highest type 

 of animals in all classes. This is particularly true in the dairy breeds. 



One of the common and most serious mistakes is made in the 

 supposition that animals have excellence because they belong to a particular 

 breed or family. There are no dairy herds in existence, no matter how care- 

 fully or intelligently bred, that do not need to be rigidly selected, and all 

 the culls and inferior animals rejected. There is such a small percentage of 

 the males of the dairy breeds used for sires that there is no occasion for 

 using any but the best; yet there are many animals used of ordinary 

 individual merit and very inferior ancestry. It is better in most cases 



