448 Development of the Dairy Shorthorn, [sept., 



becoming quite as important a factor in the sale of an animal 

 as the pedigree itself. The Dairy Shorthorn Association 

 recognises this, and publishes a list of the yields of its 

 members' cows in its annual report. 



Milk Records. — The theory held by the leading breeders 

 in this movement is that the milk record must be their chief 

 guide in selection and breeding, and that no bull can be 

 relied upon to produce deep-milking stock unless the pro- 

 genitors on both sides for three, or at the very least two, 

 generations, can be shown to have possessed deep-milking 

 propensity. 



It is obvious, therefore, that the object of the Dairy Short- 

 horn movement (which is that of breeding reliable sires for 

 the dairy farmer) can only be fully attained by steady per- 

 sistence for a term of years, only a very few of which have 

 yet elapsed since the movement was set on foot. 



The difficulties are augmented by the fact that the pioneers 

 have, more or less, to work in the dark as to the hereditary 

 tendencies which may exist unsuspected in the sires they 

 may select, and many severe disappointments have already 

 occurred from this cause. Bulls have been purchased at 

 high prices, of great personal merit, and apparently suitable 

 pedigree, but owing to what is called atavism, or the tracing 

 back to some ancestor more or less remote, the resulting 

 progeny have turned out very moderate milkers, and thus 

 the work of years has to be done over again. 



These misfits, as they are sometimes called, are the more 

 likely to occur because the dairy breeders, in order to attain 

 their object, have to undo the work of those in the past who 

 have made strenuous efforts in an opposite direction. In 

 other words, breeding for beef has vastly increased the diffi- 

 culties of those who are now breeding for milk. 



There are now a number of breeders who are devoting 

 attention to the development of the Dairy Shorthorn, and it 

 is thought by some authorities that the breed will tend to be 

 divided into two distinct types, as it is recognised th^t deep 

 milking and the perfect butcher's form cannot be united in 

 the same animal. The enterprise is intended to meet a great 

 want which is now keenly felt by British dairy farmers. 

 They require bulls on which they can rely with reasonable 



