WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD DAIRY BULL. 



" I smuggled in the Ayrshire to give vitality." This, however, as 

 everyone knows, cannot be considered a system of breeding such as 

 we have on record from the experience and keen observation of 

 Bruce Lowe as regards racehorses, and Messrs. Collings and Booth 

 among their Shorthorn herds in England. However, those of us who 

 knew the late Mr. McGill intimately, must at once admit that he could 

 soar unconsciously as he was a modest man over the heads of his 

 contemporaries when suddenly called upon to describe his theories 

 cxi either horse or cattle breeding. 



Many have tried Mr. McGill's theory, but none have been able to 

 achieve what he did with the material at their command. We must, 

 therefore, conclude that since Messrs. McGill and Evans, and many 

 other breeders' day the herds and pastures have deteriorated to that 

 extent that it is now impossible to build up dairy herds such as existed 

 in the forties, fi-fties, and early sixties in the dairying districts of New 

 South Wales, or that from the sheer want of a proper system of rais- 

 ing dairy herds our stock raisers have not been able to keep pace 

 with the ever-changing times. 



It would appear from all that we can glean from the past that our 

 fathers depended largely on the station owners (who were also in 

 most cases dairymen, principally for the purpose of raising and taming 

 the progeny of their vast herds) for their supply of bulls and heifers, 

 the station men in turn taking the progeny of the farmers' herds, 

 after being weaned, away to their stations. As time went on this 

 system gradually gave out, and station owners went in exclusively 

 for beef cattle of whatever breed they most fancied. 



The dairy farmers, therefore, left to their own resources, had to 

 depend largely on local supplies for both bulls and heifers, assisted to 

 a large extent by dealers and city merchants, who were ever ready to 

 send drafts of cattle to the coastal markets for sale as a speculation, 

 and a large trade was carried on in this way up to the present time. 

 The better and more satisfactory results, however, were obtained from 

 those landowners in Illawarra who bought up the yuung stock of the 

 district and sent them to their stations to the west and southern 

 tableland and brought them back again as springers for sale among 

 the dairy farmers. This change of climate had a moat desirable effect 

 on the young stock bred in Illawarra. The rich lands were used for 

 the larger breeds and the poorer lands -for smaller breeds. This, also, 

 cannot be considered a system of breeding. It will, therefore, be 

 necessary to explain what scientific breeders have to say with regard 

 to system of breeding: 



Bruce Lowe, in his work on " Breeding Racehorses by the Figure 

 System." says : " The question, ! Why is one horse so superior to 

 his racing contemporaries?' intrudes itself with the advent of every 

 unusually good performer. That there is a large accumulation o-f 

 vital force in the veins of one animal as compared with another is evi- 

 denced at every race meeting. This superiority of racing power does 

 not necessarily lie in his more perfect symmetry or better condition, 

 because we frequently see the inferior-looking and smaller horse 

 vanquish his bigger, better-looking, and equally conditioned opponents. 

 It undoubtedly consists of a greater concentration of vitality or ner- 

 vous force in the animal. As with the breeds of horses, so with cattle. 

 A close study of the pedigrees of great racehorses should always re- 

 veal excellent reasons why they gire so, and where that vitality came 

 from. The main difficulty for students has been to decide amid such 

 a variety of strains which are the most potent. Some writers build 

 their theories upon the amount oi Eclipse blood in the pedigree, 

 others incline to Herod or Matchem. One will tell you that the mar2 

 furnishes all the racing qualities, and another says, ' Given a good 

 sire, I will breed racehorses out of allv sorts and conditions of mares.' 

 There is much truth in all these statements, but they are only theories 



175. 



