Observations on the Anatomical Differences in Cattle W. W. Swett J ANIM SCI 1932, 1932:62-66.

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intensely as he can while t h e y are still alive? And if he has t h u s proceeded w h a t shall he do when the desirable animal dies or becomes sterile? Will other animals, equally as desirable in the test, always maintain the improvement when mated to the offspring of the f i r s t animal or will there be genotypes each of which m a y be desirable, but which when crossed together will consistently produce undesirable results? In projecting such programs in the f u t u r e it is well to remember t h a t the boar and sow will usually be at least two years old when the data on their first litter become available. The program needs to include some method of keeping t h e m alive and available for f u r t h e r breeding use when t h e y are finally proved worthy. The record of performance plan is f a i n t l y reminiscent of the ear-row method of corn breeding which was once widely recommended and which was on the whole fairly effective in isolating good varieties from a mixed field, but soon seemed to reach a limit in its power of improvement. Can we learn a n y t h i n g from t h a t analogy ? The results to date, altho still inconclusive in m a n y ways, point to a fairly large part played by heredity in m a n y of the characteristics studied. Simple mass selection should have some effect at f i r s t in g e t t i n g together a herd possessing the desirable t r a i t s to a more extreme degree t h a n in the average animals of their breed but such selection probably must be combined with a considerable degree of linebreeding to the most highly esteemed individuals if much progress is to be made in genuinely fixing the new type and if selection is to be " effective in producing still f u r t h e r improvement a f t e r the f i r s t or second generation it is practiced.

OBSERVATIONS ON T H E ANATOMICAL D I F F E R E N C E S IN CATTLE

W. W. SWETT

U. S. Department o] Agriculture Many of you are familiar with the project which has been developed by the Bureau of Dairy Industry, the purpose of which is to determine the relation between the conformation and a n a t o m y of dairy cows and their milk and b u t t e r f a t pro-

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ducing capacity, or to establish scientific facts which m a y have a direct bearing on dairy cattle judging. A f t e r some preliminary work in a large packing house on cows of unknown producing ability, our present plan of conducting the work with cows of known producing capacity was adopted. By obtaining external body measurements of these animals their conformation or type is translated into numerical values, which can be tabulated and analyzed. When these cows have demonstrated their capacity to produce, have finished their usefulness, and are ready to be discarded from the herd, instead of being sold to the butcher they are slaughtered under our supervision and all the organs, and parts of the body, are weighed or measured. In this manner we are establishing facts t h a t we believe will enable us to determine not only the relation between external conformation and internal anatomy, b u t also the relation b o t h . o f external form and internal a n a t o m y to producing ability. A number of the state experiment stations signified a desire to take part in this work, and nineteen stations have entered a cooperative arrangement for handling the cows to be discarded from their herds according to the plan we have adopted. In addition to these stations, the University of Edinburgh, has recently taken up this work. About 350 ante-mortem and post-mortem reports on cows of known producing capacity already have been prepared, b u t we do not plan to draw conclusions until at least 500, and if possible, 1,000 reports have been assembled. Reference already has been made to preliminary work conducted in a packing house. For this work cows were selected in the stock yards to represent fairly definite types of conformation. Most of the animals selected showed evidence of having been kept for milk purposes and a large proportion of them appeared to carry high percentages of the blood of some dairy breed. A few representatives of the beef breeds were included. Body measurements were made on nearly 400 cows, complete post-mortem data being obtained on more than 200 of them, and partial data on the others. The variation observed in the size of some of the organs of the body was surprisingly great. The live weight of these cows varied from 660 to 1510 pounds. The weight of blood varied from 24 to 76 pounds, the

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weight of heart from 2.81 to 5.94 pounds, and the weight of lungs from 3.19 to 13.25 pounds. The length of intestines ranged from 95.0 to 193.5 feet, the weight of liver from 8.12 to 19.0 pounds, and the weight of spleen from 1.00 to 3.06 pounds. The pancreas perhaps had the greatest variation, ranging from 1.0 to 17.6 ounces, whereas the brain varied only from 8.12 to 20 ounces. Coefficients of variation which are available for fifteen ante-mortem and thirteen post-mortem items have been divided into five groups as f o l l o w s : - - ( 1 ) Those directly associated with body size, (2) those associated with circulation and respiration. (3) those associated with digestion and assimilation, (4) the endocrine glands, and (5) a miscellaneous group which includes the brain and the spleen. In the "body size" group there are 6 ante-mortem items. The coefficients of variation range from 1.66 for width of loin to 9.39 for length of loin and 11.85 for body weight. In the "circulation and respiration" group there are six antemortem items having coefficients of variation averaging 5.44, and seven post-mortem items with a corresponding average of 10.36. The ante-mortem coefficients vary from 4.03 for depth of fore chest to 7.96 for width of fore chest. The corresponding post-mortem items have coefficients of variation varying from 4.50 for depth of thoracic cavity to 18.02 for weight of blood. The coefficient for weight of lungs is 17.40, and the average for weight of lungs, weight and circumference of heart and weight of blood is 13.91. In the "digestion and assimilation" group there are 3 antemortem items having coefficients of variation averaging 6.51 and 3 post-mortem items having an average of 12.06. The ante-mortem items v a r y from 5.35 for depth of paunch to 8.52 for width of paunch, and the post-mortem items vary from 9.64 for length of intestines to 14.40 for weight of liver. The weight of pancreas, which is the only "endocrine gland" ineluded, has a coefficient of variation of 42.53 which is the highest for any ante-mortem or post-mortem item in this comparison. In the "miscellaneous" group there are 2 items, the brain and the spleen, with coefficients of 9.77 and 17.49 respectively. The similarity of coefficients for length of intestines (9.64) and for weight of brain (9.77) is of interest in connection with observations on data obtained elsewhere. On the average the coefficients of variation are much greater

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for the post-mortem than for the ante-mortem data. Many coefficients of correlation have been determined to show the relation between the internal anatomy and the external body measurements, and also the interrelations between the size of the different organs and body parts. The weight of heart has been correlated with about 40 antemortem and post-mortem items, and the ten most significant correlations found are: (1) Circumference of heart over apex, (2) Body weight, (3) Surface area of body, (4) Circumference of fore chest, (5) Circumference of rear chest, (6) Volume of barrel, (7) Depth of rear chest, (8) Weight of hide, (9) Circumference of paunch, (10) Depth of fore chest. The weight of lungs also has been correlated with about 40 ante-mortem and post-mortem items. As a whole they are somewhat less significant than those of the heart. The ten having the highest significance are: (1) Volume of barrel, (2) Length, withers to hips, (3) Depth of fore chest, (4) Length, withers to pin bones, (5) Surface area of body, (6) Depth of rear chest, (7) Weight of heart, (8) Length of thoracic cavity, (9) Depth of paunch, (10) Circumference of fore chest. The length of intestines has been similarly studied in relation to more than 30 items. On the average the coefficients of correlation are lower than those for either heart or lungs. The ten found to have the highest significance are: (1) Weight of intestines, (2) Width of thoracic cavity, (3) Weight of heart, (4) Depth of rear chest, (5) Length of thoracic cavity, (6) Weight of lungs, (7) Body weight, (8) Cross section area of rear chest, (9) Depth of fore chest, (10) Surface area of body. In the "heart" group, the ten correlations having the highest significance include a heart measurement, 4 items rather closely associated with body size, the three barrel circumferences, and the two depths of chest. The weight of heart seems to be definitely and positively correlated with body size and chest measurements. In the "lung" group, also, there are 4 items rather closely associated with body size, 3 body depths, the circumference of fore chest and the length of thoracic cavity. The weight of heart also appears in the list. The lungs, as well as the heart, appear to be reasonably closely correlated with body size and chest measurements. In the "length of intestines" group the correlations having the greatest significance include weight of intestines, 2 body size items,

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3 external chest measurements, 2 thoracic organ weights (the heart and lungs) and 2 thoracic measurements. Although length of intestines is to some degree correlated with body size, the relation is less marked than in the case of weights of heart and lungs, and the length of intestines seems to have a closer relation to size of chest and thoracic organs than to other ante-mortem or post-mortem data. The outstanding point consistently brought out in the study of the relation between the external conformation and the internal a n a t o m y of the animal, and also the interrelations between the size of the different organs and body parts, is that there is a relatively high positive correlation between the depth of chest and the weight of heart or lungs, but t h a t there is a relatively low correlation between the width of chest and weight of the same organs. F u r t h e r m o r e the depth of chest has been shown to be more definitely related to body weight and to other external and internal body measurements than is the width of chest.

W H A T A R E T H E G E N E T I C P O S S I B I L I T I E S OF DAIRY HERD IMPROVEMENT WORK? T H E B R E E D E R S ' AND J U D G E S ' POINTS OF VIEW.*

H . H . KILDEE

Iowa State College

The breeders' belief in the genetic possibilities of the herd improvement registry work or herd test is expressed in the statements of purpose written at the time this project was started by each of four dairy breed associations. The definition of purpose as stated by the Holstein-Friesian Association m a y be taken as typical. It is as follows:
"The p u r p o s e of the Herd I m p r o v e m e n t R e g i s t r y is to obtain r e c o r d s on the e n t i r e h e r d of the individual o w n e r in o r d e r to m a k e definite h e r d i m p r o v e m e n t . U n d e r the plan all cows in t h e h e r d are t e s t e d so t h a t the p r o d u c i n g ability of each individual cow in the h e r d m a y be a s c e r tained. R e c o r d s so m a d e m a y be used as a basis f o r selection and h e r d i m p r o v e m e n t as s u p p l e m e n t a l to A d v a n c e d R e g i s t r y r e c o r d s . "

All the dairy breed associations excepting the Brown Swiss have with slight modification adopted the rules and regula* J o u r n a l P a p e r No. B15 of tile Iowa A g r i c u l t u r a l Exl~eriment S t a t i o n .

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