Per cent 

 Improved. 



50.00 



Per cent 

 Improved. 



50.00 



75.00 



25.00 



87.50 



12.50 



93.75 



6.25 



96.87 



3.12 



98.43 



1.56 



ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 105 



investment on account of a sire. First of all, this is two dollars, 

 not in a calf but in a cozv. What does it mean ? 



It is said that the sire is half the herd. He is more than that. 

 For practical purposes he may be the whole of it. The rapidity 

 with which the blood of the sire will "pile up" if the same line 

 is persistently followed is shown in the follwing table : 



The Rate at Which the Blood of the Sire Accumulates in Grading. 



Generation. Blood. 



1 % 



2 ^ 



3 % 



4 15-16 



5 31-32 



6 63-64 



From this we see that after six generations of infusion of 

 the blood of the sire less than two per cent of the original blood 

 of the dam will remain, whatever it was. In this way, for exam- 

 ple, a practically pure bred Jersey or Holstein-Friesian herd can 

 be built up in six generations from any foundation whether 

 mixed blood, or pure bred. Indeed in this way one breed can 

 be changed into another within the space of time indicated pro- 

 vided only the system be persistently followed. In this way 

 the farmer receives quickly and in the form of one animal, the 

 practical benefits of many generations of the most expensive 

 experience of the most skilled breeders. 



In actual practice the dairyman can do better than this for 

 he can make the dam help the sire at every step far more than 

 her simple blood lines would indicate. For business and com- 

 mercial reasons he should test his individual cows, and if he 

 will do this, eliminating the poorest he will, so far as milk pro- 

 duction alone is concerned secure all the advantages of pure 

 bred animals in much less than six generations. 



But, the fatal fact is that most men either lack the business 

 foresight to do this thing persistently or else they are ignor- 

 ant of the consequences of breeding to a part bred sire. Thev 



