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cularly wished to determine how far simple measure-
ments, which could be made by ordinary breeders
without elaborate apparatus or much knowledge
of genetics, could serve as a guide to the selection of
breeding stock. We believed that the results of
such a study, even if negative, would be of value.
It would show that some basis of selection other than
such measurements is necessary. Information as to
the extent to which a certain body conformation is
desirable or necessary for maximum draft ability
would help to settle the controversy over whether it is
possible to have a dual purpose breed or not.
If we were to test the draft ability of the animal,
it seemed necessary that the animal be tested with
a yoke or harness which enabled it to exert its maxi-
mum strength. There are widely differing types of
yokes in use in India which appear to differ in the
extent to which they allow the animal to use his
strength. Aside from its bearing on this scheme,
information about the effect of the yoke on the
ability of a pair of animals to pull a load would be
useful in practice. If yokes really differ as much as
they appear to, there should be marked advantage in.
selecting the best one for general use. The adoption
of a yoke which would increase the power delivered
10 per cent would be equivalent to adding the power
of about 5,500,000 work animals to the power avail-
able to the Indian farmer. (There are 55,794,864
bovine work animals in India—British India and the
Indian States taken together,—according to the 1940
census of live stock). It seems desirable therefore
to carry out tests to determine the best type of yoke
or harness before trying to test animals. It is with
this preliminary work on methods of yoking that
this report is concerned.
Some further statement of the importance of the
problem studied may be of value. The Indian
farmer is practically entirely dependent on the draft
bullock or buffalo for power used in farm operations.
The power developed by a single pair of bullocks is
small but the aggregate of all power used on the
farms of India is very large. If the average power
developed per animal is as little as one-fourth horse
power (H.P.). the aggregate is nearly 14,000,000 H.P.
It seems unlikely that animal power will be dis-
placed in the near future in India. The small size
of individual holdings, the poverty of the individual
farmer, the dense population, the lack of fuel oil
and other factors are all-against the extensive intro-
duction of mechanical power for the work now done
by bovine animal power. Even if mechanical power
is to replace animal power, the period intervening
before this is likely to take place on any large scale
seems likely to be long enough to justify study of the
best method of application of animal power.
It is well recognised that the Indian farmer is
hampered by lack of power. One of the most
common excuses for not accepting better implements,
particularly ploughs, is the supposed inability of the
bullocks to deliver the required power. The only
effective way to increase the productive power of the
farmer to any great extent is by enabling him to do
more work, or better work, in a given time. One of
the most effective ways to do this is to put into his
control more power per worker. Without any
essential change in the present system of cultivation,
the provision of more power will improve the position
of the farmer by enabling him to do better work, to
do more work, and so to increase his earnings. This
improvement will be in addition to anything which
may be accomplished by better seeds and better
farm practices. In fact most better farm practices
ultimately depend on better implements and more
power to work them. At present, Indian work
cattle seem to develop less power than should be
expected of them. Aside from any question of
improving the bullock, any improvement in the
yoke used which will enable the bullock to better
apply his strength will be a gain.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Very little testing of draft animals has been done
anywhere in the world, so the literature on the subject
is scanty. Rule of thumb methods have developed
various types of harness and of yokes in different
parts of the world and even in different parts of a
country, as in India. Very few of these seem to
have been subjected to scientific study and none
seem to have been developed as the result of study
and systematic tests of different types.
It is known that draft ability in both horses and
bovine animals is roughly proportional to body weight,
that the big animal in general can pull more than
the small. A good deal is known by farmers in
western countries about the fitting of collars to
horses, for instance, and there are references in the
literature to the sore shoulders resulting from poorly
fitted collars or other causes. Occasional references
can be found to the advantages of a 'well-fitted
yoke'. Our study has not uncovered a single
comparative study of the fitting or design of either
yokes or harness. No article has come to our atten-
tion discussing the subject as the main item of the
article.
It is not difficult to understand reasons for this
situation. The art of using animals for draft work
is very old and the main types of harness and of
yokes were fixed long before the age of scientific
enquiry. When men first began in modern times to
question all sorts of practices and ideas, perhaps the
harness or the yokes in use functioned relatively
better than other things. Attention therefore
tended to be focussed where most difficulty was felt,
on the implements used with the animals. Except
for the appearance of galls and sores there was no
very sensitive method of judging the fatigue of the.