FARM NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 93, 27 November 1939, Page 2

FARM NOTES

SELECTION OF HERD SIRE

(By Mr A. 11. Ward, Technical Officer, Herd Recording Dept., New Zealand Dairy Board). "It ought to be unnecessary at the present time to '"tress the value of the herd sire. 1 think ive arc all fully aware that the sire is at ieast half the future herd, and the question of his selection should exercise about at least fifty times the effort and thought that would ordinarily be given to the selection of a breeding dam. Dairy farmers generally, and particularly those with high herd levels of production, must, in their own interests, be prepared to exercise a greater discrimination in the selection of their herd sires than is apparent at the present time. The herd's profits five years hence are definitely associated with the sire in use to-day. Unfortunately, because of the market, he still continues to find the inefficient pedigree breeder is able to compete with the breeder who is following sound practices, and is able to supply the industry In ci roc i oli nnrfVif novnv Ia havr»

witn sires wnicn ougnt never to navr: missed the bobby calf lorry. I think many of the pedigree breeders themselves will agree with this criticism. Parallel Success. "The sticcess of the practical plant breeder, particularly in the application of scientific methods to selection, has many interesting parallels for the dairy cattle breeder. There are, of course, several very obvious reasons why the plant breeder has been able to get so far ahead of the animal breeder, but there appears to be no good reason why, if a large number of animal breeders work together as a society for a common object, they cannot in time achieve similar results.

Selection

"Obviously it is outside the scope of this advice to deal with such matters as which breed or which strains within the breed + o favour—they are matters each herd owner must solve for himself in the light of his own herd conditions and his experience of previous successes or failures.

"A bull is approximately 10 per cent looks and 90 per cent pedigree. Until we know the bull's own breeding it is the actual performance records of his ancestors, more than his own good looks, which are likely to tell us what we want to know. Importance of Breeding. "We know very little at the present time of the detailed manner in which milk and butterfat producing qualities are inherited—we can be fairly certain, however, the same genetic principles hold good as are true for the relatively unimportant characteristics of coat colours, etc. It is raesonably certain, for instance, that milk is inherited independently from butterfat, and also that many factors in combination are responsible for the general inheritance of producing qualities. This being so. it is quite valid to apply the general principles of genetics when dealing with the inheritance of such qualities. The fact that breed societies exist and have played such a major part in the development of the dairy industry is itself proof of the importance of breeding.

Proved Bulls.

"Because a bull's sons are likely, on the average, to reflect the same qualities as their sisters and half-sis-ters, the sons of proven bulls are the next best thing to a proved bull. Remote animals in a pedigree are relatively less important than the immediate parents and close relatives. Bulls should be proved as soon as possible, and if sound for producing qualities, should be kept in full and careful use until no longer capable of siring calves. This not only produces more desirable calves, but also cuts the cost of bull purchases.

"Breeding for high production, provided herd conditions are maintained at a proper standard, does not appear to result in an increase in disease losses. For this reason a prov ed bull is doubly valuable —his daugh ters return a greater net profit pe l " lifetime than the daughters of inferior bulls. Finally, all farmers interested in the welfare of the industry should avail themselves of the advantages of sire survey work so that strains of superior bulls can be followed up and made the greatest use of. "In turn, breeders should co-oper-ate by making available full information on the actual performance of the ancestors of bulls offered ?or sale, and breed societies in their turn should co-operate by registering

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the maximum of males from outstanding strains whilst restricting the registration of males from: strains of known poor producing ability.

"On the other hand, the efforts of the breed societies and individual breeders will never be wh|jl!ly successful unless dairy farmers themselves are prepared to exercise greater discrimination in the selection and purchase of their herd sires."