ZEBU CATTLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22022, 3 August 1933, Page 9

ZEBU CATTLE

SHIPMENT FOR AUSTRALIA

KEEN INTEREST AROUSED.

SYDNEY, August 2,

(Received August 2, at 10 p.m.) There is much interest among cattlemen in the arrival by the Waihemo from Los Angeles of 19 head of zebu cattle selected from picked ranches of Texas by an expert of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, of which Dr j. A. Gilruth is chief of the division of animal husbandry. Dr Gilruth Texas 12 years ago and was much impressed with the use that was being made of the zebu type. This consignment will be distributed ' among four representative graziers in North Australia to cross with local beef cattle, evolving a type particularly adapted to tropical areas, where at least 65 per cent of beef cattle are reared.

The herd consists of eight bulls, eight cows and three calves. All possess long projecting ears and short hair and black skin extending over the shoulders, saddle and loins, affording protection from the sun, and they have a greater capacity for extracting nourishment from poorer pastures than European breeds. Experiments with zebu-shorthorn hybridisation revealed that the dead weights increased, compared with other types, representing a gain of roughly 15s a head on all marketable stock in North Queensland.