The Owosso times., 1922-06-23


| OF Agriculture)
AS result of the conference of
representatives of the purebred dairy
cattle associations held in Washing
ton, May D, at the call OF DR.. G. w.
Larson, chief of the dairy division
| of the United States Department of
Agriculture, number of important
recommendations were made for the
Improvement of the dairy industry.
| especially the purebred dairy cattle
business. Each of the breed associa-
| tionS, including the Ayrshire, Brown
| Swiss, Guernsey, HOlstein-t'riesian, and
Jersey, was represented by two or
more delegates. The subjects of dis
cussiOn had to do with the improve
ment of dairy cattle. advanced regis
| try, fairs, and sales.
No conferences of this kind had
| been held for several years, and the
| representatives expressed the desire
| that this one might result in the for
| nation of permanent organization to
| thresh out problems Of mutual interes:
and TO work for the general better
ment of the industry. Figures pre-
pared by the department showed a de-
| cided need for Improvement in dairy
animals and in making the best use
| of the improved animals that are now
| available. The average production of
| the cows of the United States is about
1000 pounds of milk and 1c0 pounds
| of butterfat IL year. while the average
COW in some other countries produces
| almost twice as much There are 81
million grade and scrub dairy animals
| in the country and less than II million
purebreds. There are 4.566,GG4 Amer
lean farms having dairy cattle. and
only 20S.2Jl of these farms have pure
bred dairy cattle. 1t is estimated that
approximately 100000 purebred dairy
bull calves born each year are not
needed on the farms where purebreds
are kept. OF the purebDed animals
that were registered last year, about
10000 were females and less than
$4,000 males, which Indicates that not
half of the purebred dairy bulls are
registered.
Recommend Better Sires.
Among the recommendations made
ing approval Of plans for increasing
the use Of purebred bulls in scrub and
grade herds. and Of the plans for CO.
operative bull associations ms being
the best known means for distributing
surplus bulls and introducing them
into new territory. Although there IL
place in this country for all the
purebred dairy cattle that may be pro-
duced for some time, il WAS the CON
sensus of opinion that an expert busi-
ness in purebreds would help to stimu-
late interest among farmers ut home.
A number of questions related t"
advanced registry were brought up.
Coordination of effort by and between
the agricultural colleges and the breed
associations was suggested, and ii was
recommended that these organizations
and institutions make special efforts to
cooperate In this connection Ii was
suggested that the various representa-.
iivus ask their associations at their
earliest meetings to appoint conihi,-
tees to meet with the Dairy Science
association to sre If IN improved plan
for making official tests of cows can be
worked out. which will he agreeable
to the breeders, the associations, ana
the colleges that send out the official
testers.
The showing of dairy animals az
fairs and expositlons received II good
deal of attention from several angles.
Ii was decided to recommend To the
associations that they cease giving
money prizes ut these shows, but
spend the funds in putting Oh educa-
tional exhibits; that more attention
should he given to production records
In awarding prizes at fairs and
shows; that the associations repre-
sented should give more attention to
educational exhibits showing the eco.
nomic advantage Of purebredS In dairy
practice that each association has a
distinct duty I'm connection with tn"
selection of suitable persons tn act aS
Judges of the various breeds of dairy
cattle at fairs and shows: that no AMI
mails should be admitted to fairs and
pxpostions unless they are from herds
accredited as being free of tubercu
losis or i'm herds under federal or state
supervision, and that fairs not enforc-
ing such rule should not be favored
with animals for, exhibits.
Live Stock Sales Discussed.
Questions relating to private and
public sales were discussed, and IL was
decided to suggest meeting at an
early date of all the dairy cattle ASSOC
clntions with a view to drafting code
of ethics for sales that would elm
mate some Of the undesirable condi-
tions. Since an excessive amount Of
attention Is gwen to a few high prices
to the neglect of average conditions,
II was also agreed to recommend to