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Show DAIRY HERD IMPROVEMENT RESTS ON THREE PRACTICES Three ways of improving the dairy herd better feeding, rigid culling and intelligent breeding were emphasized emphasiz-ed by J. C. McDowell, dairy husbandman husband-man of the United States department of Agriculture, in a talk at the recent farmers' week at Orono, Me. "Better feeding of the cows we now have," he said, "increases average production, increases total production and usually increases net profits. Rigid culling out of low producers increases average production, decreases de-creases total proddction, and nearly always increases net profits. The use of better dairy sires eventually increases average production, increa ' ef total production and, I believe 1 may safely say, with proper management man-agement always increases net profit-. "All dairy herd improvements due to better breeding tends to increase j profits to the producer and to de- ', crease costs to the consumer. It is ; one of the ways by which the world , may become richer without decreasing decreas-ing the prosperity Df any individual. 1 Therefore, as I see it, the breeders of good purebred dairy cattle are among the world's greatest benefactors. benefac-tors. "It is a common practice to select dairy bulls on their appearance and their pedigree. The day is coming when dairy bulls will be selected on appearance, pedigree, and progeny. The production records of a large number of daughters of a dairy bull when compared with the production records of their dams determine the breeding value of the bull as certainly certain-ly as the records show the producing produc-ing ability of the cows themselves. If a sire has a high producing dam he may transmit high production to his daughters, but if he has already transmitted high production to every one of his first 5 or 10 daughters it is a practical certainty, not that he may, hut that he will transmit hiirh production on an average to all his offspring. The record of the dam of any dairy sire is a promise, but the record of a large number of I'"'!' i-roducir.g daughters is the fulfillment ful-fillment of that promise." |