The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-08-23

The Tried and Proven Bull Is the Best
investment.
the buyer should choose one whose fe-
male ancestors have uniformly high
records of production, since this indi-
Gates that high production Is fixed
characteristic Of the family. Careful
attention should be given to the record
Of the young bulls dam, and after that
to the daughters of his sire. The rec
Ords of closely related animals are
of far more Importance than the fact
that the pedigree may include, three or
four generations back, some excep-
tionally high-priced animals.
The tried and proven bull is the best
investment. When bulls daugh-
tiers are larger producers than their
dams, he has improved the herd. Many
good bulls, however, are sacrificed be-
fore their worth can be determined,
which means the continual use of
young bulls whose real value is not
known. The sire should be kept I'M
til his daughters have shown his worth,
and If he is herd improver he should
be kept in the community as long as
he is useful.
The owner of a large herd Of cows
can well afford to own first-class
bull. and the bull association has now
made 1t possible for the owner of a
small herd to own share in good,
well-bred bull. A cooperative bull as
ISOLATION is farmers organization
whose chief purpose is the joint own
ership use and exchange Of high-class,
pure-bred bulls. If skillfully man
aged these associations should be event
ually the greatest single factor in the
upbuilding of our dairy herds. The
typical cooperative bull association is
composed of from Is to 30 farmers.
1t jointly owns five bulls, and divides
it's territory into five breeding blocks
to each of which one bull is assigned.
AS many as so or so cows may belong
to the farmers in each block. and the
bull should be kept at some farm con-
veniently situated. The blocks are
numbered from one to five and to pre-
vent inbreeding each bull is moved to
the next block every two years. IL all
the bulls live and If all are kept I'M
| til each has made one complete circuit
no new bulls need be purchased for
ten years. In that way, paying only
small part of the purchase price of
one bull, each member Of the associa-
ton has the use of good, purebred bulls
for many years. In one association
having more than 100 members the
original cost to each was only 500. In
another association of. 80 members the
average investment was S25. 1t is
possible for each association to con-
/ tinue for ten years or more without
other additional cost than the main
tenance of the bulls.
Most of the milk In the United
States is produced In small herds con-
tanning four or five cows. Purebred
bulls are comparatively few in num-
Der, and expensive. 1t is. therefore,
| impossible for each dairyman with n
small herd to own purebred bull. Be
cause of the expense 1t would also be
impracticable to buy such bull for a
small herd. 1t would further be I'M
economical to limit the use of a good
bull to few cows, when his use could
be extended to a greater number or
cows. If purebred bulls could be used
| In all the grade herds, in single gem
GRAFTON all the offspring would be at
least half purebred and would show
immense Improvement. BY means Of
the bull associations 1t Is possible for
small herds to have the advantage Of
good purebred bulls at the minimum of
cost.