41

                            (vii) Veterinary Dispensaries

Table V.

26.    There were 16 Veterinary Dispensaries working during the
year, the same number as last year. The
total number of patients treated at dispen-
saries was 26,250 against 24,572 in the previous year. Medicines
and advice were given to the owners of 7,994 animals which were
not brought to the dispensaries for treatment, making a total of
34,244 animals treated and supplied with medicines as compared
with a total of 29,574 animals in the previous year. The number
of castrations performed at dispensaries was 129 as against 125 in
the previous year. The increase in the number of patients treated
is satisfactory.

27.    The Burdizzo Castrator has recently been supplied to five
Veterinary Dispensaries and it is hoped that the new method of
castration will be appreciated by the people and animals will be
brought readily for the operation. Veterinary Assistant Surgeons
are requested to demonstrate to the people the use of this
instrument and make the method popular.

                        III.—BREEDING OPERATIONS

                                            (i) Bovines

28.    Cattle breeding operations are under the control of the Live
Stock Expert, Bombay Presidency, Poona.

                                            (ii) Equines

Tables X, XI, XII.

29.    There were nine District Local Board stallions at the
beginning of the year. The stallion returned
by the zamindar in the Larkana district did

not cover any mares and was subsequently sold. One stallion in
the Upper Sind Frontier and one in the Sukkur district were sold
as they were very old and not suitable for stud purposes. The
District Local Board, Upper Sind Frontier, purchased a thorough
bred and an Arab stallion and the District Local Board, Larkana,
a Kathiawari, during the year. There were thus 9 stallions at the
close of the year. The stallions covered 472 mares during the year
as against 406 mares covered in the previous year. The cost of
maintenance of the stallions was Rs. 6,760 of which Government
contributed Rs. 2,450. The Province is in urgent need of more
stallions and the District Local Boards of Sukkur, Hyderabad and
Karachi districts, are anxious to purchase a stallion each but
without a Government grant, find it very hard to do so. A sum
of Rs. 5,600 has been provided for purchase and maintenance of more
stallions in the Province, in the budget estimates for 1926-27, and
a similar provision will be made in the year 1927-28.

                                        (iii) Other Animals

30.    No breeding operations are carried on in Sind under the
control of this Department,

Q 24—6