Vol. XII. No. 298. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



309 



LIVE STOCK NOTES. 



A FERTILE MULE. 



Some very interesting coriespiindence has recently 

 appeared in The Field (August 2 and 9, 1913) concerning 

 the case lately observed in Cyprus, of a female mule with 

 foal at foot. The observatioD.s were recorded in the first 

 instance, by G. J. Harvey, M.lt.C.V.S., Government 

 Veterinary .-iurgeon, Nicosia, Cyprus When called to 

 the case he was informed that the foal was the second 

 one born: last year the animal bad given birth to a 

 filly foal which lived two months. The present one 

 was a colt foal two months old by a jack donkey and 

 resembled somewhat a young donkey but was bigger. 

 The mule herself wa.s six year? old, l.')2i hands high, and 

 bay with black points. There were no special marks or 

 stripes and the animal was of a very good type. Enquiry 

 seemed to indicate that she was bred from a she donkey, sire 

 unknown. At the time of writing she was giving milk and 

 the foal suckled in the presence of the Veterinary Surgeon, 

 who was able to certify that both mule and foal were 

 genuine. 



THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECT. 



In continuation of the letter just dealt with. Professor 

 Ewart, of the University of Edinburgh, communicated to 

 the journal acknowledged above, the following interesting 

 facts regarding the subject under consideration. There 

 appears to be no a priori reason why mules should not prove 

 fertile. The male mules with which Professor Ewart has 

 experimented with, were always found sterile becau.se they 

 never succeeded in producing perfect sperms— in some sperms 

 the head piece seemed normal but the tail was only about 

 one-tenth the usual length. It is believed quite po.ssible 

 that the female mule may discharge perfect eggs from her 

 ovaries, but this has not been definitely ascertained. It is 

 moreover conceivable that the conditions in Cyprus may 

 favour the formation of normal germ cells in at least female 

 mules, and thac the donkey like foal referred to by 

 Mr. Harvey is the offspring of a mule and a jack donkey. 

 It is pointed out, however, by Professor Ewart, that before 

 this could be admitted, positive evidence must be forthcoming 

 to show that the dam of the filly foal is really a mule and not 

 simply a mule-like she donke}". 



DWARF CATTLE IN NIGERIA. 



Another letter of considerable interest dealing with the 

 subject of a peculiar breed of cattle has recently appeared in 

 Till Field (August 9, 1913). The breed under consideration 

 is remarkable because the cattle can live and multiply where 

 the much larger and ordinary humped cattle sicken and die, 

 but their reputed immunity to trypano.somiasis (see Agrind- 

 (ami News, Vol. XII, p. 31.5) is apptrently only relative. 

 It would seem from collected observations that 'muturu' — as 

 these dwarf cattle are called — succumb to trypanosomes 

 convejed by Glossina morsitaiis, but are relatively immune 

 to those microorganisms transmitted by other species of 

 tsetse fly. 



A point of much interest is the origin of these animals. 

 In the opinion of Profe.ssor Ewart they are probably allied 

 to the small Shetland cattle, and appro,u;h the ancient Celtic 

 shorthorn (Bos lonfjifrons). How they got to Africa is 

 a puzzle. 



GRANTS-IN-AID OF LIVE STOCK IM- 

 PROVEMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN. , 



In Tht Times (August S, 1913) an account is given of the 

 scheme of the Board of Agriculture of England for assisting in 

 the improvement of live stock in that country. The main 

 object of the scheme is to afford means of demonstrating 

 to groups of farmers, especially the smaller farmers, that 

 it is proper economy and of pecuniary advantage to use 

 only sound and high class sires, and to keep records of 

 the milk yield of their dairy cows as an aid to selection. 

 The grants are made principally for purchasing, or 

 assisting in the purchase of pedigree bulls, heavy horses 

 and boars, and wherever possible the assistance is to be made 

 through the medium of clubs and societies which may either 

 be already in existence or be specially formed for the 

 purpose. Grants, however, may be offered to individual 

 breeders who are willing to place approved bulls at the 

 disposal of their neighbours. 



A part of the total grant, which amounts to £37,000 per 

 annum will be expended for the provision of a competent staff 

 of live stock officers who will carry out the scheme under the 

 administration of the Board in the various provinces into 

 which Great Britain has been divided for the execution of 

 the project. 



PERCENTAGE OF MILK FAT AND THE 

 QUANTITY OF MILK. 



With the issue of the Jnurnal of the Board of Agriad- 

 tnre for August 1913, was published a supplement compris- 

 ing a report on the correlation between the percentage of 

 milk fat and the quantity of milk produced by Ayrshire 

 cows. 



The conclusions arrived at are conveniently summarized 

 in the issue of the journal referred to above, and the follow- 

 ing points have been abstracted, as being likely to prove of 

 interest to the general reader. 



Broadly speaking it wa.-; found that the milk of cows 

 which gave the larger average weekly yield of milk showed 

 a definite and appreciable tendency to be poorer in milk fat 

 than the milk of cows which gave lower average weekly 

 yields. 



The duration of lactation was found to have no signifi- 

 cant influence upon the average percentage of milk fat 

 produced. 



With certain allowances, the percentage of milk fat was 

 found to be rather lower in the older than in the younger cows. 



In the herd under examination the older cows showed 

 a definite and appreciable tendency to give larger yields of 

 milk than the younger cow.s. This may be due partly to 

 selection by the breeder, and partly to physiological tendem^y 

 for older cows to give better yields than younger ones. 



The application of these results in practice may lead to 

 great economic improvements. It appears to be possible to 

 select a herd of cows with an average yield of nearly 800 

 gallons per cow per lactation (as compared with the 1909 

 average yield of 637 gallons), without reducing the average 

 percentage of milk fat produced in the herd as a whole 

 below 3 58 per cent, as compared with the present average 

 of 368 per cent. I'Vom this it will be evident that the 

 economic advantage lies in sacrificing richness in order to 

 obtain a more than proportionate increased return in total 

 yield. j 



