142 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



the only true test of the dairy sire. We cannot determine his 

 value as readily as the dairy cow. That's where the trouble 

 comes in. The only way to do it is to take that new sire and 

 breed him to only a few cows, until we determine his value. It 

 never pays to take a new sire and breed him to the whole herd. 

 You do not know the results. You are undoing the work of 

 years. I say, take a new sire and test him. You have got to 

 wait until he is four years old before you know his value. After 

 arriving at maturity, breed him to a few cows, and lay him on 

 the shelf until the heifers come fresh. Then, and then only, 

 can you tell the real value of a dairy sire. 



He ought to be well bred. He ought to come from the 

 splendid dairy cow. We have got to test him. We must select 

 him by his breeding and his individuality and then test him. The 

 farmer who follows the practice of breeding to young sires exclu- 

 sively will never make very much advance in breeding. We 

 know also that some of the best dairy sires in every breed have 

 been slaughtered before they knew their value. When they 

 traced back the pedigree of Burgess and looked for the sire, they 

 found him hung up in the shambles. Some one had got through 

 with him and killed him. He was worth — why you could hardly 

 find his value in money that he would be worth to the Jersey 

 breeder had he been preserved. I say we make a mistake when 

 we don"t judge the dairy sire by the dairy cow. It is impossible 

 with a small dairyman. If there are some small breeders, let 

 them co-operate with their neighbor. Let a neighborhood co- 

 operate together and select the best dairy sire and breed him to 

 a very few cows, and lay him on the shelf until they find out his 

 heifers. When you find one that gives satisfactory results, then 

 you can't keep him too long. 



I have simply given you here briefly some safe rules for 

 select breeding that are arrived at from experience, observation 

 and study. They must also be backed up by feeding and care. 

 You can't develop experience without proper feed and care. It 

 is absolutely impossible. And, besides this, while we can put 

 down all the rules that experience seems to indicate that are 



