Roederer: Zebu Crosses in Tunisia 



201 



and cheese, easily transported to market, 

 should be bred. In the third zone in the 

 interior the zebu would be the proper 

 breed. This third zone corresponds 

 to the ranges of the western United 

 States; there and there only would I 

 expect to see the zebu profitable. 



There is this to be said, however, 

 when the above evidence is being 

 weighed, that hybridization with the 

 zebu has hitherto been carried on in a 

 wholly hit-or-miss manner, in most 

 cases. Certainly this is the case in 

 Brazil, and I understand that the 

 breeding in Texas has not been accom- 

 panied by careful records. If the 

 resources of the modern science of 

 genetics were applied to the problem. 



it is possible that much better results 

 would be secured. The importance of 

 the problem for the tick-infested area 

 of the southern United vStatcs, and for 

 all warm parts of the worlci, is such that 

 I strongly urge the United States 

 Department of Agriculture to send 

 competent zootechnists to Brazil to 

 investigate the matter thoroughly. 

 Brazilian breeders declare that the zebu 

 is improving under the better care and 

 feeding it gets in Brazil. Science 

 ought to know exactly what has been 

 accomplished here, and I am sure that 

 the Brazilian government would be 

 glad to cooperate with that of the 

 United States, in an endeavor to place 

 the facts on record. 



ZEBU CROSSES IN TUNISIA' 



M. Roederer, Mateur, Tunisia 



A 



TTEMPTS to use zebu blood in 

 improving tropical races of cat- 

 tle are not novelties. The zebus 

 and their crosses are, it is 



abundantly proved, resistant to the 



Texas fever and to anthrax; further- 

 more, they are very little disturbed by 



foot and mouth disease. This does not 



mean that the blood of these animals is 



exempt from the protozoa of Texas 



fever. Recent experiences have shown 



the contrary; but they are in smaller 



number and do not seem to act injuri- 

 ously on the organism. Was it not a 



temptation, then, for us Tunisians, to 



try to cross our native cattle with 



stock from warmer and less favorable 



climates than the one under which we 



live? 



One might say of the zebu that it is 



the "American stock"^ of cattle breed- 

 ing. Aside from the great advantages 



which it presents in resisting disease, 



the use of the zebu in crosses gives other 



precious results. The hybrids resist 



1 Translated from the Journal (T Agriculture Pratique, Paris. 



2 An allusion to American grape vines, by the use of which as grafting stocks, French growers 

 were able to recreate their vineyards after they had been nearly wiped out by phylloxera.— The 

 Editor. 



the heat perfectly — in fact, they thrive 

 best in summer. After the hottest 

 days, they return from the severe labor 

 of plowing, with the eye fresh and the 

 flank scarcely heaving. They fear cold 

 weather more than anything else. Their 

 great facility for assimilating dry fodder 

 is an immense advantage in this 

 country; they are less particular about 

 the quality of their food than even the 

 Arab cattle. Zebu breeding is, then, 

 easy and presents few problems. 



Now let us see what their crosses are 

 like, as regards structure, weight, meat- 

 production, milk-yield, fecundity and 

 working qualities. 



CROSSES OF GOOD SIZE 



Cattle produced by breeding native 

 cows to zebu bulls are much larger than 

 the local Arab cattle. The head is 

 delicate and expressive, the eye prom- 

 inent, but the general appearance is 

 spoiled by the large and ungraceful 

 horns. The neck is short; the zebu 



