202 



The Journal of Heredity 



hump has disappeared. The fore-quar- 

 ters are powerful, the chest deep, the 

 shoulder very oblique, the legs delicate 

 and ner\'ous, the posture good. The 

 line of the back is pretty, the short 

 flank is vaulted, but the rump is sunken. 

 The tail is very fine, long and well 

 attached, the switch is voluminous. 

 All the tissues and bones are fine, the 

 muscles well developed, the belly as 

 small as it could well be. The color is 

 generally light and nearly always 

 uniform. 



The half-bloods (zebu x Arab) are 

 much heavier than their brothers oi 

 pure Arab blood, sometimes reaching a 

 weight, on the hoof, of 1,250 pounds. 

 With a little addition of European blood 

 through the mother, they can add an- 

 other hundredweight to this. Butchers 

 are eager for them, the meat being of 

 excellent quality — no matter what has 

 been said to the contrary — and the cut, 

 much greater than that of most breeds, 

 may exceed 60% of the live weight. 

 They usually command a premium at 

 the stock yards. 



As work oxen, they are faster, 

 stronger, more enduring than our native 

 stock, but also less docile. A horseman 

 would say that they show more blood. 

 Nevertheless, they do not display a 

 vicious temper to men who handle 

 them.^ One can break them to perfec- 

 tion by taking a little pains, by castrat- 

 ing them young, by always keeping 

 them up in a stable and yoking them at 

 the age of 2 or 23^ years. They then 

 become first-class draft animals which, 

 at the age of retirement from labor, 

 become excellent beef animals. 



They are easily kept in good condition 

 and are always in shape to sell, in spite 

 of inferior nourishment. 



The cow has little milk, but no less, 

 I should say, than most of our Arab 

 cows. On the other hand, her milk 

 seems to be very much more nutritious. 



ASIATIC RACES BEST 



The races of zebu are very numerous, 

 and may be divided into African and 

 Asiatic. Among the African races which 

 have been tested in Algeria and Tunisia 

 are those of Sudan and Madagascar. 

 They yielded much poorer results than 

 the Asiatic breeds. Among the latter, 

 the little Brahmins of Ceylon are the 

 most noteworthy; after them, the Nel- 

 lores and the Malaysians are the most 

 highly valued. 



Zebu crosses, rather recent in Tunisia, 

 have been made in Algeria for many 

 years. In 1865, zebus from the Sudan 

 were sent to the Jardin d'Essai (experi- 

 ment station) of Algiers, and gave rise 

 to hybrids of remarkable hardiness, 

 which created much satisfaction among 

 breeders. Traces of them can still be 

 found in the coastal plain. Much later 

 — some twenty years ago — M. Rabou 

 of Bone introduced by accident, it is 

 said, little Brahmins which gave even 

 better results. This breed still exists 

 and has furnished Tunisia with the 

 best breeding-stock it possesses. Un- 

 fortunately, it is hard to obtain purebred 

 bulls or cows, since they are more 

 difficult to raise than are the grades. 



The principal objection which can be 

 made to the use of the zebu in our 

 animal industry is that it is only a 

 temporary expedient, and is not leading 

 to the creation of a new breed. Never- 

 theless, it must be admitted that it is 

 improving our cattle because an infu- 

 sion of zebu blood considerably increases 

 their hardiness. At present we see the 

 most enthusiastic admirers of the Swiss 

 and Tarentaise cattle seeking an alli- 

 ance with the zebu, to give their breeds 

 the quality of endurance which they 

 now lack. The improvement of our 

 cattle by zebus .seems to me more 

 practicable than the acclimation of 

 pure breeds from Europe. 



' C. L. Willoughby of the University of Florida College of Agriculture (Gainesville), who was 

 formerly in charge of zebu breeding in Georgia, writes: " My understanding and my own opinion 

 of the Georgia work was that it was rather clear that it would pay the Georgia people better to 

 stick to other breeds, rather than waste their time and money on these Indian cattle. We found 

 them bad-tempered arui hard to handle, comparatively slow in growing, and poor beef animals 

 and still poorer as milk animals. ' ' — The Editor. 



