The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-05-20
BULL ASSOCIATION
How They Work Out in
Practice. Helpful to Large
as Well as Small Breeders.

and more the usefulness Of the CO
operative bull associations Is recog-
nizsd as time goes on and its bene-
fets to the dairy industry have
chance to become evident. The full
results that can be obtained from
such an association obviously can not
appear for several years. 1t L. svi-
dent therefore that since the bull as
sociations are of only recent begin.
ming, the benefits so far obtained are
only the fore-shadowing Of greater
things to come.
The cooperative bull association
has been carefully planned to enable
q number OF small dairymen and far.
mers who individually could not az
ford good bulls, to combine their re-
sources and buy. few really good
dairy sires. For example, suppose
four farmers each have 800 to invest
In a bull. They are 30 situated that
they can all use the same bull. The
association makes it possible for them
to pool their resources and buy one
$40o bull, presumably four times as
good as any one Of the four 500 ami
mails that they could buy individually.
It is gratifying to see that this theory
is working out in practice SO we'll that
it applies not only to the dairymen
with 500 available for investment. In
bull but equally we'll to the one
with only SO, or on the other hand
to the one with $500. =.
Saves the Good Bulls.
The money advantage is the first
thing which attracts the farmers at
tention to the bull association, but by
far the greatest advantage OF the or
ganization Is the exchange OF bulls
every two years by means of which
continued use of bulls can be had ur-
til their value is proved. Statistical
figures indicate that bulls owned by
individuals are used only to an aver
age age Of about three years. AT this
age 1t is impossible to have any pro
duction records of the offspring
which is the only real test OF q sire's
value. Because OF this short life OF
the bull It happens over and over
again that dairy farmers have dis
covered, after the daughters had fin-
ished a record, the exceptional pre-.
potent Qualities Of their sire; and
then, on looking around for that sire
have made another discovery. sad
one. that the search was futile, for
the sire had gone to the butcher.
Beneficial to Family Cow Owners.
The average herd Of all the mem
bers of these associations consists OF
six COWS. InaSmuch as there are
many herds with ten or a dozen cows
Il follows that there must be great
number OF herds with less than six
cows each. In fact. town people own
ing family cows are often members,
paying their share or assessment OF
five, ten, or whatever number Of dol
lars is required for each COW; and
.or this payment they have. the use OF
all the bulls in the association. Thus
a family cow owner may for $1o In
yestment have for period Of 10 years
the use Of such bulls as freely az
though he owned them himself.
Leads to Keeping Purebred Cows.
The claim is made in behalf OF the
bull association as an institution that.
It opens up an opportunity Tor the
small dairyman TO do pure breeding.
The figures gathered in the 1918 d.
rectory Of bull associations show that
while the number Of organizations,
the number of members, etc., have
increased less than II per cent as
compared with 1918, the increase in
number of purebred cows owned by
members went up 24o per cent, show.
ing plainly that the bull association
does help the small breeder to do
pure breeding.
No Chance Of Loss.
We have still to get the first re.
port from farmer to the enect that
he has lost money on his investment
IN a cooperative bull association, says
J. P. LaMaster, Extension Service
dairy husbandman. The greatest loss
that can be sustained from disband-
ed association is that the wrong I'M
preston which the community ana
other communities may receive may
prevent them from organising other
associations of the same kind. For
this reason, We are anxious to see all
associations organized on the right
basis and properly looked after, so
that none Of them will dssband.
Suggestions for Success.
The principal points to keep IN
mind for building a successful asso-
citation are as follows:
I. Have the blocks we'll organized
principally with reference to sat!sfac-
tory location Of members and he