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Proving Dairy Sires and Dams¹

Department of Animal Husbandry, Iowa State College, Ames

ABSTRACT

To "prove" a dairy sire is to estimate his breeding value, which is never observable directly, from the observed qualities of his known offspring. Since these qualities are affected by many other things, the offspring indicate the breeding values of their parents only imperfectly. The various errors which can thus creep into the "proof" of a sire or dam can generally be reduced (in varying degrees) by such procedures as correcting for known peculiarities of the environment, increasing the number of offspring, and comparing the offspring with the observed qualities of the other parents or of still other relatives or of their contemporary herd mates. The problem of "proving" is to use each such procedure in a way that the breeding values will be estimated as accurately as is possible with the available information. The papers on proving dairy sires are far too numerous to list completely. Only articles which still seem to be pertinent and a few which, although now obsolete, have been cited widely are listed here.

¹ Journal Paper No. J-2576 of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames. Project No. 1053. This review was prepared at the suggestion of the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association.