FIFTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION 99 



are sired by good purebred bulls should furnish this assur- 

 ance in a large degree. Then instead of only two out of 

 every three being profitable, we can get 4 out of 5 or 6 out 

 of 7. It seems to me that this is your greatest problem so 

 far as profitable dairying is concerned, to increase the num- 

 ber of desirable purebred bulls to breed your cows to so 

 that there will be more of these better heifers coming on 

 each year to replace the low producing cows. 



The Iowa Agrciultural Experiment Station demon- 

 strated in a striking manner the value of purebred bulls as 

 a means of increasing herd production. A number of native 

 cows were brought to Iowa from an isolated section in Ar- 

 kansas. After they were brought to Ames, they were given 

 good feed and care and milk and butterfat records were 

 kept. The original cows averaged 3,991 pounds of milk 

 and 187 pounds of fat. Thirteen daughters of these orig- 

 inal cows sired by purebred bulls averaged 5,566 pounds of 

 milk and 253 pounds of butterfat. Cows of the second gen- 

 eration or granddaughters of the old original Arkansas 

 cows averaged 358 pounds of fat. 



The production of granddaughters was almost double 

 that of the original scrub cows due almost entirely to the 

 purebred bulls used. The same result or even better can be 

 gotten on a large number of farms in Nebraska. 



If herds are not large enough to warrant the keeping 

 of a good purebred bull, it is often possible for a group of 

 farmers to go together and form a bull association. This 

 type of organiaztion was designed to meet the needs of the 

 farmer with a small number of cows, but it is by no means 

 limited to him. It enables one to have the use of a high 

 class purebred bull over a period of years at a small cost. 

 There are over 200 of these in the United States at the 

 present time. That they are getting results is shown by rec- 

 ords of the daughters of these bulls as compared with the 

 dams. So far 70 daughters of association bulls (all that are 

 available for study), have produced 22 per cent more milk 

 and 25 per cent more butterfat than their dams, on an 

 average. Illinois has 7 of these associations at the present 

 time. 



Many states and organizations realizing the import- 



