312 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Mat, 1917. 



allow heads of bolts to pass; is countersunk. The fittincr is shown 

 in the illustration. The actual cost of making this is as follows: — 



4\ d. 

 One iron carpenter's bench screw ... ... ... 2 6 



Four ft. hardwood, 4 in. by 2 in. ... ... ... 6 



Two 3 in. by 3 in. by } in. iron plates with screw holesl 



countersunk in corners and centres punched out •••l o R 



One 15-inch iron b.ar 1 in. by { in. with ^ in. holes for j 

 guide pin ... . . . . ... ... J 



Two bolts to fasten to bench ... ... ... ... 2 



5 8 



UO-OPERATIVE OWNERSHIP OF BULLS. 



By R. R. Kerr, Dairy Supervisor. 



Of tiie many useful ways that co-operation could benefit the farmer, 

 nothing would lie more imjwrtaut than the principle applied to the 

 buying and use uf dairy sires. In all closer settlement dairying areas 

 the herds are on the small side, numbering ten, twelve, or twenty odd 

 cows. The keeping of a sire for so few a number of cows is not the best 

 business ariangement, putting the farmer to unnecessary cost, both in 

 the buying and keeping of the bull. 



Thess small farms are generally handy one to the other. Can any 

 strong argument be raised against one farmer caring for the bull, and 

 the ueighiaours bringing their cows across for service ? Surely the neigh- 

 bourly spirit is existing to that extent. The siystem advocated would be 

 for three or four fai'mers to combine or co-operate, and buy a good 

 animal, and arrange between themselves as to whether one of the num- 

 ber sliould be paid for keeping the bull, or whether each should care for 

 him in turn. The price of a good sire from a tested dam with a 400-lb. 

 fat record, although a splendid investment, has one deterrent in that it 

 is an outlay of cash that the small farmer can ill afford, because he has 

 to wait three years to get the benefit of his investment. One bull judi- 

 ciously used can serve at least fifty cows. If £30 or £40 were divided 

 between three or four farmers the share of each would be £10 — the 

 price of the mongrel sire now so prominent. Were such a scheme 

 adopted, its benefits would be manifold. 



The resultant progeny would have a much higher market value, and 

 the returns from the increased yields would many times pay for the 

 original investment. 



The improvement of herd yields is of national importance, consider- 

 ing the wealth of the dairying industi-y, and to the mind of the writer 

 the selection of dairy sires is of equal importance to the industry as the 

 certification of stallions to the horse breeders. 



Bulls from dams yielding 400 lbs. fat are being slaughtered, simply 

 because dairymen do not know their value, and refuse to give the few 

 extra pounds asked for them. They are content to plod along using the 

 mongrel sire, or nearly as bad, the pure sire from a worthless dam, rais- 

 incr useless stock — ^living monuments to such limited intelligence. The 



