Abstract
On May 16, 1938, ninety dairy farmers in New Jersey owning some 1,000 Holstein cows, employed a full-time veterinarian to breed their animals under an organized cooperative program of artificial insemination. Three sires, two of them proven and one a senior yearling, were leased from the New Jersey Experiment Station and stabled on the farm of a cooperator. Since the beginning of this project, the number of organized units in this state has increased to five, with six veterinarians employed to inseminate approximately 5,500 cows. During the eighteen months or since the first unit began active operations, many practical lessons have been learned. A number of problems requiring scientific study remain to be solved. It is recognized that an enthusiastic farmer leadership plus the possibility of using an outstanding proven sire, facilitated the organization of the first unit. The same enthusiasm plus the inseminating power of another sire has tended to carry that first unit to date with but three or four casualties among its original membership.