ZEBU CATTLE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 465, 24 February 1933, Page 7

ZEBU CATTLE

PROPOSED INTRODU CTION INTO TROPICAL AUSTRALIA. 1 i • IMPORTS FIROM TEXAS. /, Austr^lian pa'storalists controlling ) :'up to half a million head of cattle are vitally interested in the mission which I Mr. R. B. Kojley, B.V.Sc., of the Commonwealth Scientifie and Industrial J Research Cougcil, is undertakmg on a their hehalf. Mr. Kelley, who was a 1 through pa.ssenger on the Makura, | which arrived in Wellington 1-ast weelc * from Sydney, is en his way to SouthI ern Texas to bring back a numher of j Zebu (Brahman) ci-oss cattle, with | which he will subseigiently conduct j cross-breeding experr.'nents in the j north of Australia. j Mr. Kelley informed a Wellington I reporter that he had visited Southern j Texas in 1931 to investigoite the pos- | sibilities of introducing Zebu cross j cattle in the north of Austialia. On 3 the present trip he intended' to pur- | chase hetween ten and twenty Zebu j stud" animals and return with them to Australia, prohahly ahout the end of June. y Explaining the difference hetweeSn tropical and northern types of cattle S Mr. Kelley said that wheri\JBritish cattle evolved along certain lines; were taken into the tropies they be?;ame unthrifty and lost their vitality \n(j generally deteriorated to such an e^_ tent that they were unprofitahle. Tihh question was to evolve a type having the constitution of the tropical animal and the productivity of the northern type. One wa.yJ to do it was to carry on indefinitely with cross-hreedinig and maintain British cattle in the tropies with the possibilty of failure. The other way was to follow the lines on which Mr. Little had proceeded in establishing his Corriedale sheep. j There was no reas-on why the sarne methods should not be success.ful with cattle in tropical Australia. Research Proceeding. The p'roblem was a world-wide one and affected particularly the tropical parts of the British Empire, Mr. Kelley continued. No one had really solved it, although there was ample evidence to show that it was possible to reach some finality. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Council was not in a position i'inancially to organise full breeding experiments, and aceordingly up to half a million head of cattle arranged that he should be free to go to America and select Zebu cattle with which to experiment -in the tropical region of Australia.

Mr. Kelley said that Zebu cattle had been taken to America from India long before the Civil War, and their piogeny had gone to Texas, where it was noticed that crossing them with northern types had produced bigger and hardier animals. More Zebu cattle | were aceordingly imported from India, and later from South America, with the result that now there were 2500 registered Brahman stud animals in thd hands of breeders. The country was free from disease, and it Ayas j3ossihle to take adequate precautions to safeguard the interests of Australian -cattle. From 'a quarantine j point of view importations of Zebu cattle from India as well as from several countries were quite out of the . question. Shorthorns, Herefords 'and Red Polls would be used in Australia for crossing with the Zebu cattle, Mr. Kelley added, the object being to produce suitable types for beef purposes. The problem from a dairying point of view had already been investigated at the instance of the Empire Marketing Board, and there wa® no doubt that a great deal could be done by similar methods of cross-breeding of tropical and northern types of cattle. !