42 THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTURE 



The breed is tick-resistant, and will practically fatten where 

 our own stock would starve. In parts of the Northern Territory 

 and the north-west, where our cattle suifer large losses from 

 disease and numerous insect pests, these Zebus would thrive 

 and prove a source of profit on thousands of acres of country 

 at present unoccupied. The illustration herewith shows the 

 fine type of cattle that results from the mating of the Ze))u and 

 the Shorthorn, and the following extract from a letter from Mr, 

 William McDowall, Christmas Creek, Charters Towers, Queens- 

 land, to the Royal Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of 

 Victoria regarding a Zebu bull sent him by the Society, is wortli 

 quoting : — 



"The white bull 1 got from you is a very big beast now, and 

 very quiet ; his calves are a year bigger than ordinary cattle, eat 

 dry grass in the heat of the day, and get and keep fat where 

 ordinary cattle die; they seem to be immune to all diseases; we 

 never wash or spray them for ticks, and we never even see a fly 

 or insect on the bull himself." 



The best of these bulls are largely purchased for America,, 

 where thej/ are used with success, for grazing purposes, and 

 Americans would not use them, with the experience they have 

 had, if they did not pay them. 



The Zebu-Shorthorn cross is immune to tick fever and tick- 

 conveyed diseases, and some interesting information on the sub- 

 ject was recently contributed by Mr. A. Despeissis to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in Western Australia. He said : — 



"I was collecting information regarding the purchase and 

 shipment to this State of heavy Milking Maltese goats, and while 

 discussing the matter of 'Maltese fever,' which these animals 

 are likely to carry, some interesting experiments, consisting of 

 crossing Zebu cattle (Bos indicus), popularly known as 

 'Brahmans,' with ordinary cattle, was brought to my notice. 

 The object of these experiments was to ascertain whether Zebus 

 themselves or their crosses are immune against 'tick fever,' or 

 ' piroplasmosis, ' which is very severe in portions of Algeria. 



"The fact which suggested the experiments was that Mada- 

 gascar, a French colony heavily stocked with humped-back cattle 

 (a strain of Zebu), was free from tick fever, although the tick 

 insects themselves abound there ; moreover, in the South African 

 colonies where the humped-back cattle are not bred, European, 

 cattle are severely affected by 'red water.' . . . 



