FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 57 



to decide upon which one of the dairy breeds you want to 

 keep, and then put a sire of exceptionally good breeding 

 at the head of the herd. This is very important, since the 

 sire is more than one-half of the herd. Whatever improve- 

 ment is made in milk and butter fat production of the 

 daughters over their dams must come from the sire. Im- 

 provement cannot come from any other source except from 

 the sire. 



In selecting a sire, attention should be given not only 

 to the individuality of the bull, but his dams should have 

 very good milk and butter fat records for four or five gen- 

 erations back of him, if you expect to make very much im- 

 provement in the herd. 



There are five leading dairy breeds and they are all 

 good. If a record of production of each individual cow is 

 kept and only the best cows retained in the herd, it will 

 make very little difference which breed you have. 



Some of the factors to be taken into consideration in 

 deciding upon which particular dairy breed you want are : 



1. Breed of cattle most common in the community. 



2. Form in which product is to be marketed. 



3. Average production of milk and fat. 



4. Original cost and probable demand for surplus 

 stock. 



5. Preference of the breeder. 



It is generally always better to have a breed of dairy 

 cows which are common in your community, because any 

 surplus stock you may have for sale can be disposed of to 

 much better advantage than would be the case if the breed 

 you have were not common in your community. 



Another advantage is that when you once have had a 

 good sire and can no longer use him, you can dispose of him 

 to your neighbor. In many cases neighbors can exchange 

 sires or, where the herd is too small to have a good sire, two 

 or three neighbors can club together and purchase a much 

 better sire than one with a small herd can afford to buy. 



If one is selling butter fat only and the skim milk is fed 

 to young stock, it will not make very much difference which 

 one of the dairy breeds you have. Generally speaking, 



