SELECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE 43 



Tho efforts of the breeder are constantly directed towards 

 the 1 development of the dairy breeds to the point where the 

 characteristic of high milk production will be uniformly 

 inherited. Even our poorest dairy cows give much more 

 milk than was given under natural conditions. Although 

 much progress has been made we must always expect many 

 covv's to fall below our standards because these standards 

 arc so far above nature. A certain number of the dairy 

 cows with good parents will have inferior dairy qualities. 

 No method of growing the heifer or of feeding the mature 

 cow can make a naturally inferior cow into a good one. 

 The cow must first of all have the tendency to use her feed 

 for making milk. High production of milk results from 

 selecting such a cow and then providing the proper amount 

 anl kind of feed. A cow of high dairy qualities will do little 

 if uny better than one of inferior quality unless given suffi- 

 cient and suitable feed. 



There is little evidence to support the common idea that 

 an inferior cow is the result of wrong methods of raising as 

 a calf. Recent experiments indicate that while the size of 

 the animal and possibly the vigor may be influenced by the 

 feeding when young, the tendency to produce milk is not 

 much affected by the methods followed in raising the ani- 

 mal. 1 It should be clearly understood that this does not 

 mean that it makes no difference how a calf is raised. It 

 means that the efficiency of the cow as a milk producer is 

 chiefly a matter of inheritance. Her yield of milk is the 

 result of this inheritance plus the method of feeding and 

 management. 



If a cow shows one year that she has inherited a tendency 

 toward milk production, she can be expected to produce 



1 Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 135. 



