100 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



ance of better bulls are carrying on scrub sire eradication 

 campaigns in particular counties or localities. They offer 

 inducement to the farmers in an effort to eliminate scrub 

 bulls. These should have a far reaching effect. 



I recently attended a meeting of farmers in an eastern 

 state incident to scrub bull eradication. This meeting was 

 in the nature of a scrub bull trial. A scrub bull was led out 

 before a jury composed of farmers and was tried, convicted 

 and sentenced to death upon various charges, including lar- 

 ceny, highway robbery, and pauperism. The argument 

 against the scrub bull brought out the fact that among other 

 things he was a robber because he had robbed the owner of 

 the profit of the dairy business in just as sure a manner as if 

 he had held him up at the point of a gun. He was pro- 

 nounced a pauper, because he not only had a roving dispo- 

 sition himself, but caused his owner to rove from one type 

 of farming to another and made a pauper out of him. The 

 argument in favor of the scrub bull was to the effect that 

 he was a harmless creature and required less feed and care 

 than a purebred. Then, too, he was good to eat, and if all 

 scrub bulls in the county were eliminated, the butcher that 

 bought them would be compelled to take his family to the 

 poor farm and the public taxes would necessarily have to 

 be increased to take care of them. 



I do not wish to be understood as saying that all pure- 

 bred bulls are valuable in increasing production of a herd. 

 Some of them are no better than scrubs, but in general, 

 especially when used on ordinary herds, a purebred bull 

 can be relied upon to better the production of that herd. 

 If it is a purebred or high producing herd, there are other 

 things to consider. 



In my opinion the cheapest and most practical plan 

 for the average dairy farmer to follow is to feed and man- 

 age properly the cows he has now so as to find out what 

 they will do. Select the better cows and breed them to 

 good purebred bulls of the breed he desires. Select the 

 best heifers from the best cows and build up your herd on 

 this basis. It may appear somewhat slow but it is sure, and 

 one has an opportunity to learn as he builds up his business. 



