FIFTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 95 



DAIRY-HERD IMPROVEMENT THROUGH 

 COOPERATIVE BULL ASSOCIATIONS 



(By J. C. McDowell, Dairy Husbandman, U. S. Bureau of 



Dairy Industry) 



The ultimate goal of bull-association work is not better 

 bulls but better cows. It is true, however, that these better 

 cows can come only through the use of better sires. In 

 many cases, the cheapest and best way to get first-class 

 purebred bulls is through the work of the cooperative dairy- 

 bull association. This is a farmers' organization composed 

 of at least three divisions called blocks. Its chief purpose 

 is the breeding of better dairy cows through the joint 

 ownership, use, and systematic exchange of three or more 

 prepotent purebred dairy bulls with high-producing ances- 

 try. If possible, these bulls should be better bred and bet- 

 ter individuals than the best cows in any herd of the asso- 

 ciation. 



Few dairymen are so situated financially that they 

 can afford to purchase a really first-class purebred bull for 

 a medium-sized or small herd of dairy cows; but every 

 dairyman, regardless of the size of his herd or the condi- 

 tion of his pocketbook, can well afford to own a share in 

 such a bull. In fact, the small dairyman with only a few 

 cows from which he obtains his income is the very one who 

 needs a high-producing dairy herd. He is the man who can 

 least afford the great losses that come from carelessness in 

 breeding. Though the bull association is adapted to pure- 

 bred as well as grade herds, to large herds and to those of 

 smaller size, to herds of high production and to those of 

 low production, it is especially adapted to the building up 

 of high-producing dairy herds in those districts where the 

 herds are small. 



When the 1920 census was taken only 25 per cent of 

 the dairy bulls of the United States and only 3 per cent of 



