THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 95 



capable of making him famous ; so that we should not run the 

 risk of sacrificing any of our sires until we know whether or 

 not he is a sire that is capable of making us famous. 



There is just one more point that I wish to dwell upon 

 briefly, and that is show yard records. 



I believe there is value in show yard records, even for dairy 

 cattle. As I said before, I believe there is more value perhaps in 

 milk and butter records, but even at that, I am certain there is 

 something to be gained by the breeder of dairy cattle from the 

 show yards. In the first place, it fixes the type, it fixes uniform- 

 ity and it fixes the type of form and conformation which we wish 

 to breed to and as has been demonstrated by Colantha 4th's Jo- 

 hanna and by Jacoba Irene and Missie of the Glen and Rena Ross 

 and all these famous cows, a cow does not have to be broken 

 backed or have a tilted udder or a lot of other such unsightly 

 faults in order to make a big record. 



Last year at the National Dairy Show, I asked the judge of 

 the Jerseys, "Suppose Jacoba Irene was led along in the ring of 

 your show cows and had not received the accident of knocking 

 her hip out of shape, what could you do with her?" 



He said, "What could I do with her? A cow with such 

 individuality, such form, I could do nothing but put her clear to 

 the top." These cows that have made phenomenal records con- 

 form to types which we desire in the show ring, undoubtedly 

 they would be recognized by expert judges. There is value in 

 show yard records that are realized when we consider the great^ 

 advantages the beef breeder has had over the dairy breeder 

 through the publicity he has made with his animals, and the ad- 

 vertising he has gained, because his animals have been shown 

 in their best form to the farmers of the country and consequently 

 they have favored beef cattle rather than dairy cattle. 



Many of you probably have read of the fact that nobody 

 should buy even a beef bull that was too fat; they should 

 be bought in poor condition rather than fat ; but I want to tell 

 you I never in my life saw a buyer of beef cattle — and I have 

 had a good deal of experience in that respect, I have seen a great 

 many expert breeders of cattle select and buy bulls to put at' the 



