ON THE LAND

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 15, 5 October 1929, Page 5

ON THE LAND

FARM AND GARDEN. <# . IN: STRATFORD DISTRICT, BY “ARARE” In my last artidb I was dealing With the choice of sire and the methods of breeding'.that; may be employed the farmers. fNBREEbmG. Without' ih-breeding has been useil in, s©. improvement of all : toirr ! domestic breeds, though nbw there may hob be the same necessity as in the pa<st. Possibly Darwin’s theory that inbreeding had a tendency to prodiice infertility and iaci of constitution mad’e breeders chaty Of going 'deeply in'life flirefctihn. Although jthe theory is often doubted, still line-breeding is moro often advocated 'and used in at number of pfogfessivo herds as being Safer in the long run. Taken as gehetal tide, tiny animat that hits over 50 per cent, of a perticular blood may be considered tO be inbred ih that stfahi—so per eeht. r; and under should constitute a linehred animal., UNfc-BftEinJlNte.

is Continually breeding from iiM dlong the Hires of a particular Mafity. Herd the tendency of fhe strain would seem to run to ovCr 50 pfer Cent, in a few years, hut tlfig is prevented by using an ptosis,” sfite that will .mate well with the blood of the particular lirhf-bi-ed family. To put it i« a practical way. Choose the coWs that} have a s few faultsas possible and” mate them with as good a sir© no.possible. If the progeny isho'uf aj decided improvement on their then, When a. further sire is required purchase one from the same fhtnily stst the previous one, and continne.-lf the breeder is doubtful of too 1 close* line-breeding there are other methods that ihay be adopted whete the Mood is not accentuated! but gains may be made in other directions.

For example, the best cow may be , mated with an ‘ ‘outside” bull, and •her progeny iiSed U> carry on. This first outside cross may bring down the blood lines 50 pbr cent., but the second and. future crosses' increase the proportion of the old blood. ffhe tendency of this out-cross will be' toward*, * jjjitM extra vigour m the progeny, and) a, mollification ui the mfencjr pointy of tne herd. it. luuedly her, expected] tarafc one out-cross is going ~to, finish for ever any ;. • *■ .• uf course*, ifi mfist b® understood that the' out-cross .pai’en't must ue strong in, those points that are to be corrected id Me-bted herd There is this oh® weakness in linebreeding, that .the faults are l»m> petuatecl as well as the good qualities* Good methods ot selection a-ie tiren necessary ,to cut put the interior qualities. One catn be confident that the good ’qualities are harmed down. Although there may be an occasional throw-back to something inferior, yet the chances are great that the next generation from this inferior animaf will return to the average of the herd. In all breeding the intelligence of the breeder must play a big part in fcortefctmg the weak points. It does not pajy to sacrifice the strong points of a dairy ■strain i.e, constitution and udder formation fOE. <ahy passing dr fashionable fad* CROSS-BREEDING. Cross-btrefedin.g is the mating of stock without any definite study ot the “blood” pff’ "dither side. Such, a method can be kittle more than, a gamble ahd up farmer cart afford to ‘ gamble With thp Weeding Of his dairy cows. Trim,* his 1 first Me of heifers may be good, but if sires; ate chosfeh indiscriminately,; what chance has he pf carrying on his improvement? "Where heredity plays such a big part, no iarnifer can study, too deeply the scientific problems of- thtf breeding of daity cows, nor can be be too well acquainted with the pedigree of the sire in use in his herd. It is not possible to condemn too Strongly the practice of purchasing for a herd ,a “scrub” bull that has neither character nor breeding. When a sound scientific system of breeding stock has been undertaken the (most) important point 5s the Systematic culling of the herd.

dairy cow is kept for two scieupurposes: (1) reproduction, (2) production. These are the only Boundl lin6s oh Vv’hith the worth of at cow tan he estimated. If a cow mates ftefl with a particular sire and reproduces high producing stock, then for that, purpose alone she is justifying herself. If her own production is below herd average, she may phssibly be an example of a 4T throw-baek” in a lino of strong producers indi being such is able to pass on to h’er progeny because of her own breeding abilities for production that she herself was not able to give practical proof of.