Excerpt from The Dairy Herd

Fm. L7. - The square, beefy type of cow, usually a poor milker. Note poorly placed teats. Compare with Fig. 16.considered is the choice of a breed and whether the herd shall be made up.of pure-bred or grade animals. There are several well-known breeds of dairy cattle in (anad each having distinct qualities and each having strong partisans. While, undoubtedly, some breeds are better fitted for certain conditions of soil and climate than are others, still the matter of the choice of a breed may well be left to individual preference. In almost any location one may choose a breed for which he has a strong liking, either real or fancied, and be assured that he can establish with it a successful herd. Jerseys, Guernseys, Holsteins, Ayrshires, and even Shorthorns, make a varied and fairly long list of breeds from which to select.

The comparative merits of pure-bred and grade cows. Whether pure bred or grade animals should, be selected is a matter on which there may be more difference of opinion. By purely bred animals are 'meant those that are recorded in the herd-books of their respective breeds. This is the narrow, restricted sense of the term pure-bred, but it is the one in common use in Canada. A grade ammal is the produce of a pure-bred sire on a common, or grade, dam. The produce of a pure-bred sire and a common, or scrub, dam is called a half blood; the produce of a pure-bred sire and a half-blood dam is called a three-quarters blood; a three-quarters blood bredin turn to a pure-bred sire will produce a seven-eighths blood and so on ad infinitum. Since only the offspring of pure-bred parents on both sides are eligible to registry in the herd books of any of the dairy breeds, it follows that, no matter how far the process of grading up by. The use of pure-bred sires on grade females is carried, pure breds, in the technical sense, can never be produced. Since pure-bred animals are sought for breeding purposes, the offspring of pure-bred animials are therefore more valuable and command a higher price than the offspring of grades. Hence, if the yalue of the calves is taken into consideration, a pure-bred herd is amore productive one, other things being equal, than a grade herd On the other hand, by the grading-up process referred to, continually selecting the cows that are the best producers, it is entirely possible and by no means difficult to estab lish a herd of grade cows that will equal in the production of milk any herd of pure-bred animals. Hence, if the main product alone is sought, a grade herd may produce as largely as a pure-bred one; but if the by-products are to be taken into consideration, as it was stated at the outset that they should be, a pure-bred herd certainly has an advantage over a grade herd of equal productive capacity.

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