The Sneedville news. (Sneedville, Tenn.) 191?-19??, 1922-05-12
COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION 10
BEST MEANS THRU WHICH TO
PROCURE EXCELLENT sIREs.
PROFITABLE TO DAlRYMEN
Wilson and Bedford Counties First In
State To Have Mutual Creamery and
Better Male OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Gives Details


Specialist, Division Of Agricultural
One of the most important factors
IN the Improvement OF the dairy cattle
Of county or community In the
kind of bulls used. Most farmers now
nealize the value OF using good sires,
but often the cost OF owning one for
small herd Is so high In proportion
10 the number OF cows to bc used that
the farmer feels that he can not invest
enough money to secare n hlgh-class
purebred bull II he has some neigh
bors who nl.o are Interested In build
Ing MP good herd from the few cows
tint they own, the most effective way
for NIL of them IL by cooperative own
ership of sire Of the best dairy quail
tiles. IL there are as many AN three
such communities In a county or With
In reasonable distance OF each other,
the best means to an end IN the CO.
operative bull association.
In such nm association an assessment
II prorated among members In proper
tion to the number OF cows each man
owns. This cost rarely exceeds $40
per COW. The bulls are then bought
by the directors of the association. and
one animal liz placed In each block or
community, where he stays two years.
At the end of this time each IL adj
vanced one block to prevent in-breed-
ing. Number one goes TO two, two to
three, and 80 on until the highest Is
reached. and II progresses TO number
one. Keeper Of the bull In each block
usually il paid a small fee which re
imburses him for the upkeep OF the
animal. This rarely exceeds 81 per
COW for each year.
In selecting bulls for cooperative
bull association, tho prime considera-
ton Ia, will their daughters be better
producers than the dams OF the daugh-
ters7 In other words. will the calves
of which they are slres be better pro-
ducers than the mothersf
Thus they must not only be coed
individuals. but they must be from a
high -producing family. ono of the
chief requirements IL that the dams
OF such bulls must have q register OF
merit record OF not less than 800
pounds of butter fat In a year rs a ma
ture COW, or a proportionate amount
if the record was made when the COW
was under five years OF age. IL In also
desirable to have the bulls from cows
that have a large number Of daughters
In the register of merit. and TO have
q great percentage OF the ancestry for
ut least four generations In the register
Of merit With these requirements full
filled, how cab the bulls he selected
keep from improving the qualities II
the future dairy COWS OF the COM
munltyf
In practice the actual cost 20 own
such bulls comparatively Is but little.
II any, more than the combined cost
OF the ordinary bulls replaced by them
A hull for the association would cost
about 500. and would replace from
four 10 ave ordinary purebrcds. or per-
haps grade bulls. worth on the beef
market about 500 each.
The cooperative bull association 10
not an experiment. IL has been sue
cessful I'm a number OF states for sew
eral years. Tennessee has (September.
1870 two cooperative bull as~ocis-
tions-onc In Wilson aud one IN Bed
ford county-and several others In
process OF formation. Each OF these
counties has cooperative creamery
and n cooperative cow-teSting 1850
citation. They enjoy the distinction Of
being the first In the South TO have all
three OF these mutual organIEations-
The Wilson county unit has eight
blocks, and Il one Of the largest In the
United States. All of the eight excel
lent slres owned by that organization
are related TO "Sy~fs Gamboge.- q
$4,000 animal
The cooperative bull association 10
q two-edged sword. IL cuts high and
reaches the well-to-slo--thoee who have
good bulls. hut want better ones at the
least cost II also reaches out 10 the
little man, cs the small dairyman. who
feels that he ean lot afford 10 own a
real good bull owing TO excessive cost
IL AFFORDS him an opportunity to breed
his COWS TO the ver9 best dairy blood