The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1916-11-09
BULL ASSOCIATIONS
Cooperative Organization Enables
Dairyman to Have Use of Pure
bred Animal at Low Cost.

A cooperative bull association is
a farmers organization, the chief
purpose of which is the joint owner
ship ard use of high-class, purebred
bulls. The association also may en-
courage careful selection of cows, OBJ
tain better prices for dairy products,
introduce better methods of buying
and selling cattle, work for improved
sanitary conditions, intelligentiy
fight contagious diseases of cattle,
and in many other ways assist the
dairy business.
The owners of small herds OF
grade cows often feel that they can
not afford to purchase valuable pure
bred bulls. In consequence they
buy scrubs, or breed their. cows TO a
scrub Dull or an inferior purebied
bull on some nearby farm. One
year a Holstein bull may be used the
next year a Jersey, and occasionally
,,ili Of no particular breeding. The
York of the cooperative bull asso-
Citations makes it possible for any
farmer to own a share in a purebred
bull of high quality.
A bull association in its simplest
form may consist of three farmers
who together purchase three good,
registered bulls OF the same breed
..!;,ch farmer keeps one OF these bulls
for two years, at the end of which
time the bulls are exchanged to pre-
eut inbreeding. For the same ia
son a second exchange is made !.
The end OF four years. In this Way,
by paying the purchase price of only
one bull, each member of the asso-
citation has the use Of good. pufebred
bulls for six years. A larger mem
bership in the association may eth
er reduce expenses or make possible
the purchase of better bulls.
The ideal association is composed
= much larger number of farmers
1t jointly owns five bulls, divides its
territory into five breeding blocks"
and assigns one bull to each block
AS many as SO or 60 cows may be-
long to the farmers in each block,
and the bull is kept on some farm
centrally located. The blocks are
numbered from l to 5, and every
two years the bulls are moved for
ward to the next block. If all the
bulls live and are retained until each
has made one complete circuit, no
new bulls have to be purchased dur
ing period of 10 years. AS soon
as the daughters freshen, evidence Of
the sire's true value begins to ac-
cumulate. This is the only true test
of bulls real value; but it is self
evident that this test can not be ap-
piled until the bull approaches the
age of 4 years. In ordinary farm
practice bulls are usually disposed of
before their true. value can be
known. The cooperative bull asso-
citation makes it possible to obtain
several years service from bulls that
transmit desired qualities and to
eliminate all others.
The original cost of the five bulls
and their annual cost of maintenance
are usually divided among the mem
bers of the association according to
the number of cows owned by each
Records on file in the Dairy Division
OF the department show that the
members of associations now orga-
nized are getting the services or
these high-class purebred bulls at an
average cost considerably less than
they formerly paid for the services Of
scrub bulls or registered bulls of
doubtful merit. Many farmers in
Maryland, Michigan, and Minnesota
when questioned regarding the value
of cooperative bull associations, es-
timated that the use of sires belong
ing to the association increased the
value of the offspring in the first