LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 291, 7 December 1929, Page 24 (Supplement)

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

When laying the foundation of a herd, beginners with limited capital should buy females regardless of pedigree. The selections should be made on the basis of type and production only, getting together show prospects of really being seed stock. Often enough dang?.. s sire can be secured, so that th c operator’s breeding programme can begin one generation ahead of the man who assembles on the basis of type and production alone. When finances are available and the animal can be found wo always recommend that they be line bred and that all animals be members of the same family. The breeder should go back to thc herd where he bought thp first sire and make a careful study of the bull’s paternal sisters and of the families in the herd considered from thc female side. An option should he secured on males °ut of two or throe such paternal sisters. The offspring of the second sire in this ease when bred on daughter of the first sire will have the sire of the first bull as their great grand sire on the top and also on the bottom of the pedigree.

If the man from whom the bulls wer c purchased was a constructive breeder there will be at least one other outstanding animal figuring on both sides of the pedigree. For example, the dam of the first bull may be a full sister or a half sister to the dam of the second bull—a fine condition to obtain, provided th c animals are er-

ceptionally good. When the second herd sire is secured, it is too soon to tell what the characteristic defect or defects of the daughters of the first sire are going to be. Such defects or lack of ability to “come through” must be expected. We have never seen the get of a bull which did not have them, the third bull should come from the same family but have as his immediate ancestors animals in which there is not in evidence th e outstanding defects of the females to which he is to be bred.

Selection must always play a leading role. An animal may have an ideal pedigree, but if he is lacking in type or his dam has an ill-shaped udder, or she has badly winged shoulders or the like, the pedigree must be ignored. There must be a balance, and, all things considered, the sire with the line-bred pedigree has the best chances of coming through. Thc herd sire is half the herd. The dam of the herd sire is half of him, so the chances are that he will transmit as much from her as he does from his sire. No one man can do it all. He must depend on the breeder from whom he buys to have given similar consideration when he purchased or bred his sires. That is why we said that there is no other sensible conclusion than that we avail ourselves of the best of the best breeder’s art. You however, must be the man who decides which cow will be thc dam of your herd sire. She should at least be a cow that even the most casus 1 observer would turn to take a second look at.