No. 5. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 413 



This bull was developed in the herd, and as his value was not real- 

 ized, he was sold before his daughters came to milking age, and no 

 record was left as to what became of him. Every day valuable bulls 

 are meeting with this same fate. I often have my attention called 

 to a string of fine heifers, well made and uniform, and learn on in- 

 quiry, that they are of the same bull and also that the bull was sold 

 because there was danger of breeding his daughters back to him. I 

 am not here to advocate inbreeding, but when one has paid a good 

 price to get a good bull, -why sell him before his value is known? The 

 only way to prove a bull is by a comparison of the records of the 

 production of his daughters and their dams. When a bull shows by 

 his offspring that he is capable of getting daughters that are better 

 producers than their mothers, he can, without doubt, be made by 

 means of the most marked and rapid progress in the improvement of 

 the dairy herd. If such a bull is owned in a large herd, he will be 

 used on fifty or sixty cows each year, and his daughters bred to 

 other herd bulls. In the care of the small herd, the bull question is 

 one of the big problems and many farmers are breeding their cows 

 to anything that will get them with calf. These men could have just 

 as good bulls as any breeders if they would co-operate a little. 



There are a number of useful methods of co-operative breeding. 

 The simplest form is for two farms to buy bulls of the same breed, 

 but unrelated, and to exchange bulls at the end of two years, or 

 when their daughters are old enough to breed. The same method 

 may be extended by having two or more farmers own one bull to- 

 gether. The most co-operative plan, however, is what is known as 

 the bull association. This consists of a number of farmers who own 

 about two hundred cows and who are intent upon developing the 

 same breed. The cows should not be too widely scattered. The as- 

 sociation buys four bulls. The territory covered by the association 

 is divided into four sections of breeding blocks, and one bull is sta- 

 tioned in each. At the end of two years the bull in block one is 

 moved to block two, and the bull from block two is moved to block 

 three, and so on around the association. By this means each bull 

 may be left in service for eight years with no chance of being led 

 back to his daughters. There can be little doubt that during this 

 time there will be discovered one or more hills that will be of out- 

 standing merit and which shall be kept so long as they are sure 

 breeders. 



A bull association may be financed either by the sale of stocks, or 

 the payment of the bulls may be secured by the individi^al notes of 

 the members. The advantages of such an association are, 



1. Owners of small herds have the use of first class bulls. 



2. The cost of same is reduced. 



3. Bulls are retained until proven, and if meritorious, throughout 

 their natural period of usefulness. 



4. A community is given a name for its livestock and buyers are 

 attracted. 



Though the bull association is a well established part of the agri- 

 cultural system of the Scandanavian countries, they have not been 

 developed to any marked extent in this country. However, they are 

 young, and like the cow-testiug association, have the support of the 

 far-sighted breeders of the State Colleges and the Dairy Division. 



