CARE OF THE BULL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20104, 24 March 1928, Page 22 (Supplement)

CARE OF THE BULL

TENDENCY TO NEGLECT There is a great deal more written about the care of the dairy cow than about the bull, says a. critic in the Auckland Star. Probably this is accounted for by the fact that the hull is only a single animal from which no direct revenue is returned. Sometimes a bull has lived and died before his real value as a breeder became known, for the reason that ho was not kept long enough for his daughters to come into milk. There are several cases of outstanding interest on record where bulls have been sacrificed to the butcher’s block, whereas their daughters later developed producing capacity of unusual merit. All of the inherent good or evil in the make-up of an animal is the result of heredity, and the hull contributes 50 per cent, of the hereditary characteristics of every animal, young or old, in th e herd. Feeding and care in the management can only influence size and capacity and these only within the limits prescribed by the hereditary characters of the idividual.

Males to be used for service in the dairy herd, then should be properly grown, and the problem of feeding, exercising, and caring for them during their useful years is one that should be given much attention. For the first six months of his life (states the Farmers’ Advocate) the young bull may be treated exactly as the heifers are cared for. Skimmed milk or whole milk, where it is available, with good hay, * little silage, and all the grain he wil eat. will keep them growing rapidly at a time when growth really counts.

Maximum growth is essential and, of course, the less feed that is required to obtain this the better for the dairymen More animals, however, are injured by too scant feeding than are feed wnstcfully by too liberal use of feed. A very good grain fixture for the young animal is one made up of wheat, bran, and ground oats, 1501 b. of each, to which is added 1001 b, of oil meal. If hominy feed is available the four ingredients may be put into the mixture in equal parts. . ( For the second six months of the bull’s life the same feeding may be continued, except that the milk may be omitted and the grain-feeding increased 1 somewhat.