§ Mr. Kershawasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is satisfied that the provisions of the Improvement of Livestock (Licensing of Bulls) Act, 1931, are still apt; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John MackieAlthough my right hon. Friend is aware of criticism of this Act, mainly on the grounds that a sire can be adequately judged only by his progeny, a bad sire not eliminated at licensing age could have done much harm to the standards of our livestock by the time the defects of his progeny became apparent.
A general licence is at present available to dairy bulls which pass a visual inspection but whose ancestor lactations were inadequate or unrecorded; but as from 1st January, 1966, the licensing of bulls of the dairy breeds (Ayrshire, Friesian, Guernsey and Jersey) by visual inspection only is to cease in England and Wales. After that date only the Dairy Bull licence, for which lactation records of female ancestors are required, will be available to such bulls.
For beef bulls, only the visual appraisal is at present possible, but it is recognised to permit an adequate assessment of the beefing qualities likely to be transmitted. We are assisting the Beef Recording Association to extend the performance testing of beef bulls and the recording of growth rates in beef cattle with the object, among other things, of improving the means of evaluating beef bulls generally.