1921.] 



Dairy Cattle in Denmark. 



60S 



The controller and the farmer himself must fill in these head- 

 ings, giving full particulars of the cow whose yields are entered 

 on the pages below, of her sire and dam, her calf for the year 

 in question and the date of service. By helping farmers to get 

 these particulars, on which the drawing up of the family herd- 

 book depends, carefully noted in the milk recording journals, 

 the milk recording societies therefore offer an essential and 

 practical help to breeders of dairy stock, and a considerable 

 agitation to get more and more farmers to keep family herd- 

 books has been carried on by the milk recording societies. 



The family herdbooks are not drawn up by the controller of 

 the milk recording societies but by the more responsible Agricul- 

 tural Advisers who are appointed, in order to help those farmers 

 who apply to them, by the agricultural societies or the joint 

 committees of breeding societies and milk recording societies. 

 The State defrays part of the salaries paid to these advisers. 



Official Herdbooks. — In the 'eighties official herdbooks v^ere 

 started, and these are to some extent based on the family herd- 

 books, and since milk recording societies became general the 

 official herdbooks give information of the yield of the animals; 

 in the case of herdbooks of bulls the yields of milk, percentage 

 of fat and calculated yields of butter are given for each recorded 

 year for dam, dam's dam, and so on, as far back as the informa- 

 tion is available. 



The Herdbook for Cows of the Eed Danish Dairy Breed in 

 Funen was begun in 1904. Only cows from herds with family 

 herdbooks can be entered, and they must give above a certain 

 minimum yield and belong to good families of dairy cattle. Six 

 volumes, comprising 941 cows, have been published and are a 

 valuable help to farmers wishing to buy bulls. The following 

 table giving the yields of dam, dam's dam and sire's dam of 

 bulls bought by the Cattle Breeding Societies* in Funen shows 

 this better than many words. 



Average Yields of Dams, Dams' Dams, and Sires' Dams of Bulls bought 

 by Cattle Breeding Societies in Funen in different years : — 



Ye.ar. 



Milk. 



Dattis. 



Per cent. 

 Fat. 



Butter. 



Milk. 



Dams' Dams. 



Per cent. 

 Fat. 



Butter. 



Milk. 



Sires' Dams. 





lb. 





lb. 



lb. 





lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



1905-06 ... 



9,244 



... 3-59 . 



. 367 



9.137 



... 3-53 ... 



365 



9,038 



... 3-67 ... 372 



1908-09 ... 



8.525 



... 3-75 . 



. 383 



9,475 



... 3-55 .. 



374 



9,473 



... 3-74 ... 394 



1911-12 ... 



9,339 



... 3-95 . 



. 414 



9.271 



... 3-76 .. 



387 



9.381 



... 3.75 ... 389 



1914-15 ... 



9,326 



3-94 . 



. 403 



8-875 



... 3-81 .. 



376 



9,581 



... 3-73 ... 420 



1917-18 ... 



8,802 



... 4-11 . 



. 407 



9,172 



... 3-92 .. 



400 



9,350 



... 4-13 ... 431 



* On Cattle Breeding Societies or Bull Clubs, which are quite distinct 

 from "Breed Societies," see the writer's book "Co-operation," p. 85. 



