JERSEY SIRES FUTURITY TEST. 41 



has the ability to transmit high milking qualities to his daugh- 

 ters is to see by actual test whether a fair sample of those 

 daughters are high producers of milk and butter fat. In draw- 

 ing up the general plans for the Sires' Futurity Test it was 

 decided in the first place that heifers should be eligible to com- 

 pete in this test even though they were not eligible for registra- 

 tion in the Herd Book of the American Jersey Cattle Club. Or, 

 in other words, a heifer ' out of an unregistered dam might 

 compete in the Test provided her sire was a registered Jersey 

 bull and had been duly entered for the Sires' Futurity Test. 

 The only bulls eligible to entry in the Test were such as were 

 actually registered as pure bred Jersey cattle in the Herd Book 

 of the American Jersey Cattle Club. 



It might at first thought be supposed that the Test should 

 have been restricted to pure bred registered heifers rather 

 than opened to grade heifers as well. This point of view would 

 appear to be too narrow. One of the very important functions 

 of a pure bred bull in any farming community is to bring 

 about the improvement of the grade stock kept in that commu- 

 nity. It is quite as much, or even indeed more, to the credit 

 of a sire if his get from grade dams is of superior quality as 

 well as his get from pure bred dams. 



There can be no question that the Sires' Futurity Test idea 

 is one of the soundest and best methods for the improvement 

 of the average quality of the live stock in a community or 

 state that can be devised. It is greatly to be hoped that the 

 same idea will be taken up in this State for other breeds as 

 well as the Jersey, and that we shall see county and state wide 

 tests of this sort as annual affairs. 



Rules Under Which the 191 5 Test Was Conducted. 



Since the whole matter of a Sires' Futurity Test based on 

 performing ability in milk production was an entirely new one, 

 the members of the Association and the writer of this report 

 felt it not only desirable but necessary to proceed somewhat 

 tentatively in formulating rules. In this section of the report 

 it is proposed to set forth briefly the rules and conditions under 

 which this first test actually was carried out, together with some 

 explanation of the reasons for the rules. It should be under- 

 stood that these rules are not to be regarded as ideal in the 



