32
206. Cultivation bullocks.—It was found that there were a number of very
old, feeble and useless animals amongst the 257 present at the beginning of the
year. These animals were worse than useless as they were so slow that they
prevented others from getting on with the work. It was deemed advisable to
get rid of them and purchase young and suitable animals of smaller, more active
and compact stamp, and 41 of the old lot were cast and sold, 4 destroyed and 7
died during the year. Eighty-one new animals were purchased, 23 transferred
from the farm bred stock, so that we have now 309 bullocks for cultivation
work on the farm.
207. Mules.—This branch of the work of the farm is one in which
there seems to be little hope of our ever carrying out the scheme laid down by
the committee. The factors which militate against success are:—(i) The
selected districts have been practically closed against us for purchasing and
rightly so as, if the Army Remount Department can find room for rearing them
at their Depôts, they should obviously control the market in their own selected
districts. (ii) When the horse and mule breeding operations were transferred
from this Department, all suitable donkeys were taken over by the Army
Remount Department and nothing really good was left for the non-selected
districts. The consequence has been that mule breeding has suffered very
greatly in our districts and it is not found possible to purchase the class of
young mule we require. These are the chief reasons why we find difficulty in
working anywhere near the standard laid down when the selected districts were
open to us. The result is that the number of mules has again fallen very
considerably, i. e., from 226 to 137 and it has been found impossible for the
Superintendent to obtain more than 11 by purchase during the year.
208. Now that a considerable number of good jacks have been obtained
from Europe, we may hope to be able to get a few more of the stamp required
in time. The undertaking does not pay us, especially in a year like this with
grain at 11 seers 13 chittacks a rupee and bran at Rs. 2-8 a maund; but of
course it is to the advantage of the Army to have as many good mules as pos-
sible available and Hissar is a very suitable place in which to rear them.
209. One hundred and six mules were sold during the year and of these
101 were taken over by the Military Department, but only 38 judged by tape
and measuring standard were accepted for Ordnance The farm lost consider-
ably owing to the fact that the remainder went to Transport, at Rs. 225 per head,
a price almost reached by rejected animals at auction. Five mules were sold
by auction.
210. If we fail to obtain sufficient mules to justify the retention of mule
rearing, the question of its abolition will be considered.
211. Donkey stallions.—There are at present 9 donkey stallions at
Hissar, i. e., five received from Europe for issue to the Punjab Government,
two young Catalonians purchased for the farm and two transferred from donkey
colts.
212. Donkey mares.—Four were transferred from the zebroid breeding
experiment and three farm bred fillies have been added to the brood mares,
bringing the strength from 79 to 85, one death having occurred.
213. Donkey colts.—There were 25 births during the year and no purchases
were made. This brought the number up to 78. Fifteen of these were sold to
the Military Department and others, 2 transferred to donkey stallions, 2 died
and 1 was destroyed, leaving a balance of 58 present at the end of the year.
214. Donkey fillies.—At the commencement of the year, 16 were present
and 26 were born during the year, making a total of 42; of which 3 have been
transferred to the brood mares leaving a balance of 39. The donkey breeding
has been very successful, the percentage of foalings being 62.2 per cent.
215. Zebroid and zebrule breeding.—The details of this experiment were
gone into and it became evident that it had been very unsuccessful. After three
years only two zebrule fillies had been born, the expenditure having amounted
to over Rs. 13,000. With the sanction of the Government of India the experi-