194 



Live Stock IM^RovEME^■T. 



[Jfne, 



demonstration of the advantage of good breeding is equally 

 valuable. As a result of the Ministry's Live Stock Scheme 

 many breeders have purchased pedigree cows and heifers to 

 mate with the premium bulls, and not a few members of milk 

 recording societies have become ow^ners of good class bulls of 

 milking strains. The scheme has led also to the establishment 

 of several new herds of ])edigree shorthorns in various parts of 

 the country. It is this change in tlie attitude of formerly 

 indifferent farmers toward the question of good breeding that 

 constitutes one of the most satisfactory features of the progress 

 which the scheme has effected. As an indirect result of the 

 movement towards pedigree which has arisen out of the scheme 

 is the formation of several new^ breed societies, with consequent 

 improvement both in the quality of the animals and in the 

 prices realised for them. It is significant too that, during the 

 period when the slaughter of calves was at its height, few 

 calves sired by premium bulls w^ent for slaughter. It was clear 

 that those who had bred a good calf w^ere not disposed to see 

 it turned into veal. The mere fact that it had good parentage 

 was sufficient justification for an effort to rear it. 



There has been considerable appreciation in the value of the 

 pedigree animals used under the scheme, and in their progeny, 

 and although the sires have in many cases been bought in the 

 first instance at comparatively low^ figures their value has 

 risen very considerably as soon as their quality is proved. For 

 example, a boar bought for twenty guineas under the Live 

 Stock Improvement Scheme was sold some time later for 

 six hundred, while a premium bull sold for service in a 

 pedigree herd sired nine bull calves which averaged upwards 

 of five hundred guineas apiece. It is reported from one farm 

 that the calves bred from a premium bull made £10 more 

 per head than others bred on the same farm from another 

 sire. In one instance a bull bought under the scheme for 

 £240 was sold for 550 guineas to go abroad, while another 

 that cost 43 guineas under the scheme ultimately reached the 

 Argentine where it fetched 550 guineas. The owner of one 

 of the premium bulls won first prize at the Eoyal Norfolk 

 Show and has refused £250 for the animal. At the same 

 time it is noticed that service* fees are much higher than they 

 w^ere, and are paid without complaint for the u«e of premium 

 sires. 



In addition to the financial assistance afforded to farmers 

 under the ^Ministry's Live Stock Improvement Scheme the 



