236 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



The Power of Heredity 



In all bull-association work the power of heredity is recog- 

 nized. This power is illustrated by the pictures of a high-class 

 Guernsey bull, his dam, and his daughter. Since like tends to 

 beget like in production as well as in appearance, there is little 

 danger that the pure-bred bull whose ancestors for several gen- 

 erations were first-class individuals will inherit or transmit the 

 qualities of some inferior remote ancestor. If he is well-formed, 

 strong, and healthy he will almost certainly increase, in one 

 generation, the income of the scrub or low-grade herd out of 

 all proportion to his cost. In fact, the time may come when it 

 will be possible to eliminate all bulls except tliose w^hose dams 

 are in the advanced registry. If the best bulls in the w^orld were 

 used to their full capacity in pure-bred herds, and if only good 

 pure-bred bulls were used in the ordinary dairy herds, the in- 

 come from the dairy business could be vastly increased. 



Improvement Due To Sire 



Few organizations have been in operation long enough for 

 the producing daughters of an association bull to be compared 

 with their dams. The following figures received from an asso- 

 ciation at New Windsor, Md., show the improvement due to 

 the sire : 



Average butterfat production of daughters of association bulls compared 

 with that of their dams 



Bull No. I (7 producing daughters) : Pounds 



Dams 208.3 



Daughters 270.5 



Each daughter excelled her dam. 

 Bull No. 2(7 producing daughters) : 



Dams 226.4 



Daughters 281.6 



Five of the daughters excelled their dams. 

 Bull No. 3(2 producing daughters) : 



Dams 254.0 



Daughters 369.5 



Each daughter excelled her dam. 



