CHAPTER FIVE. 



IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD SIRE. 



It is an old maxim that "a good sire is half the herd." 

 If a poor sire, he is all the herd , and that means failure. 

 Whether this is true or not, it is of great importance that 

 the sire at the head of the herd should he a good one, not 

 only individually, but what is more , he should be bred along 

 blood lines that have proven prepotent and have made good 

 even though used on promiscuously bred sows ; a strongly 

 line-bred boar with an ancestry that is unquestioned in the 

 ability to breed on. 



Often one may breed an animal that has great individual 

 quality, but without good ancestry, and such an animal 

 should not be used as a sire. A prepotent sire never 

 comes by chance. He must trace to good ancestry to 

 be of much value to the breeding herd. There is no breed 

 of swine without a few outstanding sires that have had 

 great influence on the breed. This great value comes 

 from inherited excellence through generations of good 

 blood, and is the only reliable Inethod of selecting the 

 desirable sires in any breed. 



In making a selection of a sire for a pure-bred herd, look 

 first to individuality, then to the breeding back through 

 several generations; see that his ancestors are right and 

 what they have done for the breed. If you find all this to 

 be of a high order and the boar suits you, is a high-class 

 individual, showing true characteristics of his breed, rug- 

 ged, full of vigor, masculine in appearance, and with all 

 the size possible, not sacrificing quality; conformation as 

 near the standard of excellence of his breed as possible,. 

 buy him. 



Among the few great sires that have stamped them- 

 selves on the offspring of any breed, one c;m find their 



