82 ANNUAL EEPOETS OF DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The introduction of dairy cattle has become very important in con- 

 nection "with the growth of the dairy industry in the South. Every 

 effort is being made on the part of the field men to aid in bringing 

 in a sufficient number of good cows so that dairying may become well 

 established and the type of good cows be well fixed in the minds of 

 the farmers. The readiness of bankers to finance farmers in the 

 purchase of dairy cattle shows how well established the industry has 

 become following the Federal and State work of recent years. 



Boys' and girls' calf clubs are receiving considerable attention and 

 encouragement. 



WESTERN DAIRY WORK. 



Assistance was given in the formation of 14 dairy organizations 

 other than cow-testing or bull associations and a monthly news 

 letter was published giving items of interest and helpful suggestions 

 to the various field men in the territory. The local papers were fur- 

 nished with 414 press articles and one entire edition of a farm news- 

 paper was devoted to cow-testing-association work. Because of the 

 scarcity and high prices of feed the dairy industry in the West did 

 not increase so rapidly as during the preceding few years. These 

 conditions and the Dairy Division's work, however, have led the 

 dairymen to give more attention to keeping individual cow records, 

 to cull out the low producers, and to prepare for the coming winter 

 feeding period. 



COW-TESTING ASSOCIATIONS. 



Cow-testing associations, the organization and operation of which 

 are encouraged and supervised by the Dairy Division, have continued 

 to grow in numbers and results. There are now 472 active associa- 

 tions composed of 12,088 dairj^men owning 216,831 cows. This is a 

 net gain of 37 per cent in the number of associations as compared 

 with the preceding year, and the cows tested are approximately 1 

 per cent of all the dairy cows in the United States. In four States 

 associations were established for the first time, making a total of 37 

 States where active organization now exists. 



The most noticeable development has been in the Western States, 

 although there have been encouraging gains in other sections, par- 

 ticularly in the South where the work is new. An important fea- 

 ture of the work in the Western States is the employment of agri- 

 cultural-college graduates as testers, these men being willing to ac- 

 cept low salaries because of the valuable training that they receive 

 in the work. 



BULL ASSOCIATIONS. 



At the end of the fiscal year there were 36 active bull associations 

 in 17 States with a total membership of 1,158 farmers owning 189 

 pure-bred bulls. These associations are organized for the joint 

 ownership, use, and exchange of high-class, pure-bred bulls. A few 

 examples illustrate the economic and constructive results of this 

 work. 



A Maryland association that began six years ago with one breed- 

 ing block and one bull has now grown to 8 blocks and 11 bulls. Of 

 the 17 producing daughters of association bulls 16 excelled their 



