STOCK BREEDING INDUSTRY. 



13 



gress towards a desired goal is possible, but it is likely to be by 

 a very roundabout and haphazard route, and is sure to be very 

 slow. 



It is a matter of considerable interest to examine statistically 

 the age of breeding bulls in the hands of progressive Maine 

 farmers and breeders. Data on this ppint are presented in 

 Table IX. It should be noted particularly that all ages re- 

 corded in this table are the ages of the animals at the time 

 when they were bred successfiiUy. Each entry in the table is 

 based upon what we call a "completed record." Such a com- 

 pleted record comprises, on the one hand, a service record, and 

 on the other hand a birth record, which sets forth the facts 

 regarding the calf born as a result of the service accounted for 

 on the service record. The ages tabled here are the ages at the 

 time of service. 



The more important biometric constants from this table are 

 shown in Table X. 



TABLE IX. 

 Shoiving the Age in Years of Bulls Used as Breeders. 



Age in 

 I 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 



7 

 8 



9 



10 

 II 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 15 

 16 



17 

 18 



years 



Absolute 

 frequency 



213 



252 



2og 



149 



52 



53 

 24 



ercentage 



22.03 



26 



06 



21 



61 



15 



41 



5 



78 



5 



48 



2 



48 





83 





31 



■41 



Total 



967 



