—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. December 3. 1960 16 Does Type Tell? How Much Will She Produce Using production records to select dairy breeding stock is the fastest way to bui d high-producing, money making herds. Dairy type or physical appearance is val uable chiefly in eliminating abvious abnorma.ities. These conclusions come from a USDA study of re search results obtained in the past quarter century. They show a need for more emphasis on production rec ords and less on the traditi onal score card c.assification. The study included ana.ys es of data on Holstein-Fnes ian, Jersey,- and Ayrshire catte reported by agricultur al experiment station work ers in Wisconsin, West Vir ginia,' lowa, Illinois, and Canada. It is part of a larg er study, now nearing com pletion, by ARS dairy hus bandman N. D Bayley *and associates, to determine the influence of type on mi k production, longevity, and merchandising vane. The scientists found only a. s’ight re’ationship between dairy-type score (Excellent, Very Good, Good P us, Good Fair) and production abi'ity. Many cows with high dairy type classifications are high producers at least partly be cause they get better feed and care This tends to ex aggerate type-production re lationships, especial’y when evaluations are based on production averages for cows in different herds. Slight Relationship Shown by Record Check For examp’e, Ho 1 stein rec ords showed a difference in average but'erfat yield of 11- .4 percent between all cows rated Excellent and those rated Good Plus. But a Wis consin analysis of records of 45,000 Ho'tein cows showed a difference of only 6.7 per cent between the Excellent and Good Plus cows in the game herd. The lower per centage ru’ed out feed and management differences and more nearly reflects the true and low relationship be tween type score and pro duction. The analysis also showed that production cannot be -■predicted on the basis of type rating. On the average, prediction of butterfat miss es actual production by as much as 69 pounds. This er ror is greater than the en tire difference of 60 pounds between the lowest (Fair) and the highest (Excellent) type cows in the herds stud ied by Wisconsin workers. Of the components that make up a type score, dairy character appears most close ly associated with produc tion. Bayley estimates that selection on dairy character alone is about four times as effective in raising milk yield as is se'ection on total type score. Progress Is still less than half as fast, how ever, as it is when selection is based on single lactation records Used with product ion records, dairy character increases breeding progress by 2 or 3 percent, compared with only 0 4 of 1 percent when total type score is used. Dairy Character is Difficult to Describe A serious drawback to dairy character as a select ion tool is difficulty m des cribing it exact y Many 3ud ges consider dairy character as “general appearance for milkiness,” but their inter pretations vary widely. The scientises found greater vari ation m scores for dairy character than for any other type component. Some traits associated with a heavy milker—thin, angular body and full, dis tended udder—may be the result rather than cause of high production Also, well fed animals tend to show less of these traits than poor ly fed anima's with similar yielding ability. However, since dairy character does have some use in estimating production of lactating cows without records, an objective definition is urgently needed. What do these research findings mean to commercial dairymen? Bayley sums up like this: Dairymen with av erage- or low-yielding herds should concentrate on better management and se ection on the basis of- production records. Those who have built high'y productive herds through good management and se ection based on pro duction records, shqud rec ognize that if they now de sire to select for improved type, they must go slower in increasing milk and butter fat production. Bayley be'ieves that when dairymen become more a ware of the slight relation ship between type and pro duction, they will give much less importance to type. Since 1945, the marketing margin on food is up 93 per cent. The farm va'ue of food has risen on’y 16 percent. - An Analysis For Every Need Granular 16-8-8 10-20-20 10-20-10 10-10-10 8-16-16 6-18-18 6-12-12 5-10-10 0-25-25 0-20-0 DON’T DELAY . . . GET THE DETAILS from your Farm Bureau FIELDMAN or visit your nearest Farm Bureau Store. 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