19-21.] 



Dairy Cattle in Denmark. 



605 



sumed introduced into these competitions followed the lines 

 which were afterwards adopted by the milk recording societies. 

 The first two-year competition in Funen, begun on 1st 

 October, 1894, therefore constituted in a way the first milk 

 lecording society. On the other hand it was the records ob- 

 tained by the milk recording societies which in the following 

 years enabled the various breeders to decide w^hether their 

 herds stood any chance if entered in these competitions. The 

 milk recording societies, therefore, in a way, may be said to 

 have performed the preliminary sorting of the herds to be 

 entered for the later competitions. 



As indicating the progi'ess in the breeding of dairy cattle the 

 following table is of interest, as it gives the average results 

 of yields of the herds entered in the first, fourth and seventh 

 two-year competitions in Funen. There were entered at these 

 three competitions 7, 18 and 10 herds respectively, covering 530. 

 777 and 304 cows respectively. The results are the average for 

 all coics, including heifers, cows that did not calve during the 

 two years, and cows not in milk. 



Yield Percentage Yield 



of Milk. of Fat. of Butter. 



gal. lb. 



1. 1894-9G ... 697 ... 3'44 ... 266 



2. 1903-05 ... 853 ... 3-53 ... 334 



3. 1913-15 ... 934 ... 3-83 ... 398 



These two-year competitions between entire herds compris- 

 ing all the cattle on the farms are a special Danish feature. 

 They w^ere in 1897 acknowledged to be of so great importance 

 that the Government gave an annual grant of £4,000 for four 

 years, of which as much as £150 a year could be paid to the 

 best breeding centres. This was an encouragement in a double 

 sense. It was a reward to the good breeder, and it showed the 

 farming world in general how much importance the Govern- 

 ment attached to these competitions. INIany more herds were 

 therefore entered, and the State Grant became superfluous and 

 was withdrawn except so far as to cover the cost of the adminis- 

 tering the competitions.* 



Milk Yielding Capacity Inherited Through Bulls. — The in- 

 vestigations had so far been restricted to the yield of cows. 

 It had been proved by the records of the milk recording societies, 

 coupled with the family herdbooks, that the character of high 

 yield was hereditary and could be transmitted from the cow 



* Peter Au,?. Morkeber^ : "'The Danish Svstem of Cattle Breeding," iliis 

 Journal, March, 1910, p. 1001. 



