THE PREPOTENT SIRE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1092, 3 April 1911, Page 8

THE PREPOTENT SIRE.

EVIDENCE PB'OM AMERICAN TESTS. The following (from Hoard's Dairyman, U.S.A.) is furthler evidence of the value of making a good selection when choosing a dairy bull:—"We wish that'there was some way whereby one could tell belorehand ■ whether lie was selecting, a prepotent siro or not. Purebred sires are much more apt to be prepotent than grad;o sires for they have the force'behind them of long years of breeding in a- given line. Tho following experience of the- Missouri Experiment Station is instructive on this point:—A purebred bull was purchased.and used on a largo number of cows, and it was found that tlio daughters were not producing as much fat as- the dams. The average number-of. pounds of fat for tho dams was 23-1, while that of the daughters would amount to 21G. In six years this loss on 30 daughters would amount to 939 dollars (.£187). After these results were received a second bull was u?ed to replace the first. This animal was njuch inorie prepotent in transmitting dairy qualities, and increased the average production of fat from 220 pounds in the dams to 280 pounds in the daughters. . Instead of a loss this sire 'increased the'value'of tho 30' daughters 2700 dollars (,£540) over that of the "dams. Still a third bull was used and proved himself still more prepotent. The cows on which this bull was used average 23S pounds of fat, while their daughters average 3-12 pounds, an increase of 10-i pounds. The gain in six years on thirty daughters was -1950 dollars (.E990). This sliows tho importance of a good animal and demonstrates how a larg'e numter of the common herds are being ruined because of the ignorance or neglect of the owners.