Developing a MilKing Propensity

Bush Advocate, Volume XI, Issue 869, 9 December 1893, Page 5

Developing a MilKing Propensity

The questio n of not only strong milking habit in cows, and health anil vigor to back; it up, is a question that every dairyman is interested iv, and that the great milker i3 to be depended upon to hold up both enda of tht3 demand is the uiattrr that is attracting attention. That great milkers are the types of vigor and etißily reproduce themselves ia a common assertion. On this ]>oint Professor Shaw, of Canada, has this to say: — The question may be raised here, What is meant by extreme milk development '! There is no formulated answer to it which would give v consensus of opinion, or oven porhaps what might be termed the conjoined opinion of a considerable number. I suppose, therefore, that it will be necessary to frame aa answer. In thn opinion of the writer, extreme milk development is that degree of development in the lino of milk production which is inconsistent with tha highest bodily vigor,and which tends to the production of progeny so deficient in this respect that they are incapable of highest attainment in milk production. Do wo ever find it 'r I think wo do. It would bo interesting to trace the history of great milk producers in their descendants for several generations. Would it not be found true that greatness in transmission is found olteuer in collateral lines closely related to the great performers than to those directly descended from them 'i To illustrate what I mean, take, for instance, the St. Lambert family of Jerseys. They produced many good performers in the dairy* • * "but why did not Mary Ann of St. Lamljert produce the greatest of these in her own progeny? The same question may be put in regard to noted perioimsrs at tha pail.