92 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Feb., 1916, 



pill, fine over wither, good escutcheon, and rudimentary teats, and 

 other fancied points which please the eye that he is a fit dairy sire. 

 The essential qualifications of a dairy bull are purity of blood, mascu- 

 linity, and an authentic record of being descended from females on 

 "both dam's and sire's side which have proved themselves profitable pro- 

 ducers. These attributes are inter-dependent, and any two without 

 the third renders the whole valueless. 



Purity of blood denotes that the animal possesses the blood strains 

 of his particular breed, and when used with cross-bred cows will be more 

 prepotent than a cross-bred bull in which many strains commingle. The 

 pedigree of a bull is more valuable if the families represented are few 

 than if at every union a new family is introduced, because all families 

 possess characteristics peculiar to each, and the continual commingling 

 of these is less effective than if by a gradual accumulation the characters 

 of a few families are centred in the bull. Masculinity with which is 

 associated sexual vigour and general health isi a quality quickly re- 

 cognised but diffi.cult to define. It may be described as a bold, fearless 

 sort of expression. 



As dairy cows are bred and fed for milk production no bull is a fit 

 dairy sire unless his female ancestors established their worth as dairy 

 cows. Purity of pedigree and a typical appearance alone do not assure 

 that the bull will get good heifers. The use of a pure-bred bull leads 

 to uniformity in the heifer, while the cross-bred bull leads to incon- 

 sistency and mongrelism. It is not reasonable to expect a cheap cross- 

 bred bull, perhaps out of a cow whose milk yield was not sufiicient to 

 rear her calf, to show a marked and continual improvement in the 

 heifers. It was for the purpose of supplying dairy farmers with re- 

 liable knowledge for purchasing bulls of milking strain that the De- 

 partment of Agriculture instituted the Standard Herd Test, whereby 

 pure-bred cows, accepted by the various herd books and not ostensibly 

 pure-bred by doubtful pedigrees, are tested each year over a period of 

 nine months. The benefit of this scheme is to show farmers from 

 which cows bulls may be purchased. The average butter fat yield 

 of the average cow is about 160 lbs. during normal years. Last year 

 165 pure-bred cows averaged 319 lbs. butter fat, and 104 2-year-old 

 heifers averaged 211 lbs. From this it will be readily inferred that 

 the use of bulls from some of these cows would effect a decided increase. 

 Not only are the records of the dams available, but in some cases those 

 of the grand dams on both dam's and sire's side. Such recordsi illus- 

 trate how in some families milking capacity is transmitted. 



The prices of such bulls are greater than the cross-bred of unknown 

 quality, but it is unreasonable to expect something good at a cheap 

 price. Quality demands its price, and is generally worth it. 



Having placed such a bull in the herd, keep him in a small yard, 

 and do not allow him to waste hi&i energies by undue service, such as 

 occurs when running with cows in the paddock. Many make the error 

 of keeping the bull only to get the cows in calf ; his use should also be 

 to increase the value of his stock. If a hull is supposed to possess quality 

 he should never be disposed of until his value as a dairy sire is proved 

 by his heifers. Many a good bull has been sold before his value was 

 known. If the heifers are more profitable under similar conditions 

 than their dams, keep the bulls as long as possible if only to serve 

 the older cows, and when necessary to introduce another bull buy one 



