MILK PRODUCTION.

Shannon News, 19 December 1922, Page 4

MILK PRODUCTION.

ft The inheritance of" milk 'jjrbfluetitM ■ in the dairy cow is a subject that has I been studied’by many* scientists.' The i results have beOA slow in'coming and | very meagre owing to the time it takes I to. produce a mature cow and study her 1 records; A few'points, however, have ■ among these is the knowledge that milk ■ yield and milk quality aro inherited B characters.

But milk production is not inherited in the ‘same way as egg production.

The theory is that the parents aro jointly responsible for the milk yield of the 'offspring. This means that every improvement in any part of the herd wdll result in a corresponding improvement in the offspring. It also indicates that one side of an animal's pedigree is as important as the other, as far as their character goes.

In regard to milk yield it is also known l that calves resulting from the cross of a high producing parent or a low producing parent are in general much nearer in their milk yield to the

high producer. This is explained by, the fact that high-yield and low-yield j are separate characters within an animal and the high-yield is the stronger, or the dominant one. Quality in milk means a high percentage of butterfat. This character is also known to be inherited rather than a matter of feeding. In this instance, however, although the parents arc jointly responsible, the poorer fat testing parent has the greater influence

on the offspring and its test wall be

nearer that of the lower parent than that of the higher.

These few facts not only aid in explaining some breeders' disappointments but they are helpful in the building of a herd or flock. They show that pedigrees and milk records, when wisely used should be helpful, and in fact little can be done to raise the general standard, unless they are both freely studied aiid used. Pedigrees in any

class of stock have their greatest function in aiding the breeder to make the most intelligent use- of the laws of heredity to bring about improvement through the -wisest-matings..