15
PART I.-IMPERIAL REPORT.
II.—MULE BREEDING.
Number of donkey
stallions on the re-
gister.
91. Table I will show that whilst 406 donkey stallions were on the register
at the commencement of the year, 439 were present at its close. Eighty-one
donkeys were added to the register and 48 were removed.
92. Table II will show that there were still 61 donkeys over 15 years of
age: this number is too great but I hope to be able to reduce it during the
current year.
Number of donkey
stallions at work.
93. Table VII will show that 346 donkeys were employed against 312 last
year. If we exclude the 51 donkeys received during the year, which were
unacclimatized, we find that 30 donkeys were ineffective from sickness and
other causes.
Cost of feed and
keep.
94. The cost of feed and keep, including cost of attendants, gear, etc., was
R179 per donkey against R163 last year. I consider the small increase to be
most satisfactory.
Number of donkey
stallions imported
and heir classes.
95. The number of donkeys received during the year either by importation
or purchase, was as follows:—
Cyprians . . . . . . . . .
Catalonians . . . . . . . .
Cyprian, bought by Mr. Sutherland in England
.
.
.
.
Country-breds . . . . . . .
27
18
1
24
Thirty-two Cyprians were actually imported but 5 were for various Native
States. Twenty Catalans were purchased but two died in transit between
Barcelona and Genoa. Of the 24 Country-breds, 9 were fit for immediate
work, the remainder will have to be kept for a year.
96. The prices paid were as follows:—
Prices paid for each
class.
Catalans—£55 plus transit charges.
Cyprians—£21-14-10 landed in Bombay. The cost of each donkey was £9-3-1,
the remainder consisted of expenses and freight charges.
Country -breds—R81.
Short note on each
class of stallion.
97. The Catalans were shipped in two batches, the first batch was excellent
but the second consisted mainly of leggy beasts with small girth, and were
totally wanting in power in the hind quarters. To exemplify my meaning I
would specially note one 13-3 in height with a girth of only 53 ¼ inches as
against one of the first batch 13-13/4 in height with a girth of 58 ½.
98. The Cyprians, taken as a whole, were good; they are compact donkeys
and many were selected by the Superintendents interested in mule-breeding in
preference to the Catalans, although their price was only about a quarter of
that paid for the latter,
99. No Arabs or Persians were offered for sale in the Bombay market.
100. The Country-breds were a good sturdy lot mainly by imported donkeys.
They run small but are well calculated to get excellent Transport mules and are
very useful for handing over under the new scheme to the Lambardars.
Casualties during
the year.
101. Table III will show that 6 donkeys died and that 27 were destroyed,
giving percentages of 1.49 and 6.71 respectively. This compares very favour-
ably with last year when 12 died and 41 were destroyed. The reduction in the
number destroyed is due to the fact that there were fewer old donkeys on the
registers.
102. Eight donkeys were sold, of these, five were bought by Native States Sales.
for mule-breeding, the remaining three were sold as refusing to cover or as being
unfit for stud work.