270 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1919. 



These conclusions are further substantiated by a study of 

 the proportion of Island ancestors in the great-great-grand- 

 parents of these two groups of sires. 



Study of the pedigrees of these two groups of sires dis- 

 closes the fact that all the animals which appeared in the pedi- 

 grees of the superior sires on the male side of the pedigrees 

 more than four times or on the female's side of the pedigree 

 more than three times also had appearances in the pedigrees of 

 the sires inferior in their transmitting qualities. This fact alone 

 makes it clear that the appearance of certain famous animals 

 in a pedigree of a given bull is no guaranty of that particular 

 bull's worth. 



Conformation and its Relation to Milk Producing 

 Capacity. 



Of the means for selecting dairy cows for the herd per- 

 haps no other occupies as important a place as the conforma- 

 tion of the cow herself. The general opinion has grown up 

 that certain parts of the body have greater value than others 

 as a guide to milk production. During the last year the author 

 has analyzed 1674 records for Jersey cattle* where the score, 

 as judged by some 140 men well known in the dairy industry, 

 was recorded for each part of the body commonly considered 

 an indication of milk production. On all of these cows the 

 record for milk production was known through the Registry of 

 Merit tests. The points considered and the relation they had 

 to milk production are shown in table 6. 



Correlation coefficients for milk yield with the conforma- 

 tion as a whole and for the various parts were determined. The 

 correlation coefficients ranged from — 0.0697 + . 0165 to 0.1941 

 ±.0160. Out of the 19 correlations only one was minus in 

 value; 17 were more than three times their probable error. The 

 total score had the highest correlation with milk yield. The 

 parts of the conformation having a distinctly significant relation 



*It is a pleasure to acknowledge the indebtedness of the author to 

 Mr. R. M. Gow, Secretary, American Jersey Cattle Club, in furnishing 

 a set of these score cards for this investigation. We are most grateful 

 for the courtesy and cooperation shown by him and the officials under 

 him. 



