16 DAIRY FARMING 



may be. One must know the production and individual 

 excellence of the animals represented in the pedigree. 

 The greatest stress should be laid upon the near or 

 immediate ancestry of the animal under consideration. 



Fortunately there is what is known as an advanced 

 registry, or register of merit, the basis of admission to 

 which, in addition to pure breeding, is the merit of the 

 individuals as dairy performers. It is much to be hoped 

 that this method of registration will soon replace entirely 

 the common method whose sole requisite for registration 

 is purity of breeding. 



HEAI/TH OF ANIMALS. 



The prevalence of tuberculosis, contagious abortion, 

 and other diseases, makes it imperative to make the matter 

 of health an important consideration in the selection of 

 dairy animals. Indeed diseased animals, no matter how 

 valuable in other respects, should be rigidly excluded from 

 the herd. 



It is the height of folly to select dairy animals without 

 making rigid inquiry as to their freedom from tuber- 

 culosis and contagious abortion. Yet there are many who 

 do not even inquire about these and other diseases, much 

 less make investigation such, for example, as a tuber- 

 culin test. 



