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Show CO-OPERATIVE BULL ASSOCIATION SOLVES PROBLEM OF IMPROVEMENT OF DAIRY HERD (Above) The "Expensive" Scrub Bull Used on Too Many Farms. (Below) A Good Type of Dairy Bull Such as Co-operative Bull Associations Use. I questioned regarding the value of these I societies, estimated that the use of i bulls belonging to the organization increased in-creased the value of the offspring in the first generation from :'.0 to 80 per cent, with an average of Gfi per cent. A good hull's Influence on the herd will be noticeable for many generations. genera-tions. Likewise the damage done by an inferior bull will be equally great. No other argument should be necessary neces-sary to convince every owner of dairy cows that he should join a bull association. (Prepared by the United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture.) Practically till of the 23,000,000 dairy cows in the United States can be bred to purebred sires at less cost titan grade bulls are costing their owners at present, declare specialists In the United States department of agriculture. agricul-ture. Not only that but the amount of dairy products can in a few years be greatly increased without increasing the number of dairy cows or the cost of production. How can this be done? Simply by discarding ail grade and scrub bulls and breeding dairy cows to nothing but good purebred sires with ancestors possessing high-production records. "But I can't afford to own a purebred pure-bred bull," says Mr. Average Farmer. "I keep only six cows. There isn't a purebred hull within ten miles of my farm. I can't afford either the time or the money to lake my cows to the only available purebred bull near me. So how can I hope ever to improve my dairy cattle and increase the production produc-tion of milk without increasing the number of cows I keep?" The community bull association is the answer to Mr. Average Farmer's question. While few fermers can afford to own or use a $1,000 bull, any farmer can afford to own a share in one, regardless of whether he owns only four or five cows. By belonging to a bull association every fanner can use good purebred bulls, no matter what the size of his dairy herd is. In fact it is less expensive than using a scrub bull. Community Breeding Successful. The dairy division of the United States department of agriculture started start-ed organizing bull associations four years ago. There are now 55 such associations successfully operating in 21 states. Progressive farmers are quick to see the advantages of The lan, once it is explained to them. It s simply an organization of farmers or the joint ownership, use and ex-hange ex-hange of high-class purebred bulls. These societies also encourage careful care-ful selection of cows and calves ; introduce in-troduce better methods of feeding and housing; assist their members in marketing dairy stock and dairy products; prod-ucts; fight the contagious diseases of cattle, and in many other ways help in putting the dairy business of their communities on a more profitable basis. The typical co-operative bull association asso-ciation is composed of from ten to fifty farmers living in the same county. These farmers jointly purchase five bulls. The territory covered by the members is divided Into five "breeding "breed-ing blocks," and a bull is assigned to pach block. The bull is kept on a farm conveniently located. Bulls Useful Ten Years. To prevent inbreeding the bulls are Interchanged every two years. The same bulls can thus be used for ten years in one association. This gives plenty of time to determine a bull's real value, and to select the offspring of the best bulls for breeding purposes. pur-poses. Thus at small cost a purebred bull for every thirty to eighty cows is provided pro-vided for ten years. And the only cost titter the bulls are paid for is the cost Df keeping the bulls. The purchase price and the expense of keeping the hulls are distributed among the members of the association according to the number of cows awned by each. It is easily seen what !in assessment of $10 per cow (amount-;ng (amount-;ng to ?1 a year for ten years) will io in providing good bulls. Such hulls build up his dairy herd and Increase the production of milk without increasing in-creasing his expenses. Farmer.1 belonging be-longing to bull associations, wheu |