How to know your herd

We have seen how important it is to make a good choice of breeding animals.

In modern animal husbandry we look for breeding animals of good quality.

But we also look for animals from parents and grandparents that were of good quality.

The family qualities are passed on to the young. This is what we mean by selection.

Modern farmers keep a herd book.

Give a number to each animal in the herd.

This number is the animal's name.

Mark the number on the animal's rump, for instance, by branding.

Use a double page of the book for each animal.

Write in the book everything you need to know about your animals (see Booklet No. 9, pages 22- 24).

RECORD OF A FEMALE

No. of animal Year of birth
No. of sire No. of dam

SERVICE

1^st
No. of sire ........................................................
Date of service .................................................................
No. of offspring ...............................................................
No. of deaths before weaning ..........................................

2^nd
No. of sire .............................................................................
Date of service .................................................................

3^rd
4^th
5^th

Feed
Production (milk, weight)
Vaccinations and disease
Remarks

Two pages of the herd book which records each female in the herd.

RECORD OF A MALE

No. of animal Year of birth
No. of sire No. of dam

SERVICE

No. of female Date
1st ............................................
2nd ............................................
3rd ............................................
4th ............................................
5th ............................................
6th ............................................
7th ............................................

First of two pages of herd book in which each male is recorded. The second page is the same as for females (see preceding page).