194 



TiiK joi/RXAL OF 1 li•;Kl•:l)lT^ 



'■''<^: 



TI1REK-9LIARTERS -BUFFALO BULLS. 



Bulls of this type are larger and "smoother" in build than the average full-blood bison bull: 

 they are wider between the front legs and thicker between the quarters, and stand straighter 

 on their hocks. Frequently they are not fertile, or only imi)erfectly so. In the hands of 

 the butcher they will cut about 70% net of their gross weight, according to Col. Goodnight. 

 The bull here shown was bred by the IVlossom Boyd Co., and is by a pure buffalo out of a 

 hybrid (first generation) cow. (Figure 5.) 



DANGERS OF FIRST CROSS. 



The most rcmarkabb and the most 

 disastrous feature of the first stage was 

 the abnormal secretion of the amniotic 

 fluid which was excited without exccij- 

 tion in every cow and which proved 

 fatal in a large percentage of cases. 

 This feature was so calamitous that 

 others should be warned against at- 

 tempting this severe cross. We began 

 without any suspicion of the evil and 

 had we not gone to work unwittingly- 

 on a large scale, the experiment would 

 probably have failed in the first stage. 



Fortunately no trouble of this sort 

 was experienced in the .second stage and 

 none to date in the third stage; but we 

 had an interesting reminder of it 

 through crossing otir five-eighths-buffalo 

 bull on three domestic cows in 1911. 

 One of these cows swelled to proijorlioiis 

 which indicated the former trouble, btit 

 it did not prove serious and it is possible 

 that the diagnosis was wrong. The 



other two cows did not attract any 

 notice in this respect. 



FERTILITY OF I.ILLS. 



On the subject of fertility or infer- 

 tility of bulls I have not much data. 

 The percentage of male births in the 

 first stage was so .small as to be remark- 

 able and excite curiosity as to a possible 

 cause. Out of forty-five hybrids only 

 six were male, i.e., about LS^'j , and we 

 ma\' add to this experience that of 

 Charles Ootxlnight, who wrote me in 

 1900 that he had raised many female 

 Inbrids but had never one male born 

 ali\('. Of our six, three died at birth, 

 one within 24 hours, and of the two 

 raised one ])r()\'ed barren after ha\^ng 

 been thoroughly tested. The other 

 was killed at an early age without 

 lia\ing been tested. 



In the second stage the proportion ot 

 male births rose to 40%. Out of 26 

 one-quarter-buffalocs, ten were males. 



