The Hillsdale Standard

THE STANDARD.

Influencing the Sex.

This subject has been the cause of earnest discussions among breeders and very many newspaper articles have been written in regard to the matter. and yet opinions seem to be as much divided as ever.

Below we give the plan adopted by John R. Stuyvesant of New York, as published in the Country Gentleman of a recent date:

At the request of some friends I send you a plan I have followed some years, for the purpose of influencing the sex of my calves, which has worked thus far very well. I know it will be laughed at by many, but I would like to have the many give it a fair trial, and perhaps there may be some valuable information gained. There have been many theories advanced on this subject but in none of them have I found anything very sure.

One is always to serve the cows in the early part of the heat, for production of a heifer, another is to have her served in the evening on a full bag, or before milking, etc.

Now my plan is simply this: If a cow has produced for her last calf heifer, I do not allow her to be served the first time she comes in season, but let her run over until the second time, when she is served in the first part of her heat, and is immediately shut up by herself until it passes over. Should she not catch this time, I let her run over heat number three, and serve her in heat number four, and so on until she finally does catch.

If a cow has last produced a bull calf, then in this case I have her served the very first time she comes around after calving, and shut her up by herself, as in the preceding case. Should she not catch by this service, I let her run over the next, or season number two, and serve her the next, or season number three, etc., until she catches.

My reasons for doing so are just these: I take it for granted that every alternate egg or ovum presented for impregnation is a male. Consequently, if a cow has a bull calf, the next egg in her rotation must be a female, and if impregnated when presented, the produce will be a female, etc. By this plan I know of one gentleman who has for years had nothing but bull calves, but for the past year has had all heifers. A neighbor of his doing likewise, has had no bulls in two years. Another I know of, has seven heifers and three bulls. One year, when closely attending to this myself, I had sixteen heifers and two bulls. Again, I bought some time ago two cows, seven and eight years old, who never had produced anything but bull calves, but by pursuing this plan I got heifers from both, but it took me nearly six months to get them to catch.

I keep a correct record of all the times my cows come in season, and always have them served on this plan. Sometimes, however, my man makes a mistake, and serves on the wrong heat, when of course the cows always holds, and for some years I have been able to predict the sex of my calves almost without a mistake.