DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. I47 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON BREEDING. 

 To the Maine Dairymen's Association. 



Gentlemen : Your Committee on Breeding begs to present 

 herewith its report for the year 1916. As in former cases, this 

 report will deal with the progress which has been made in the 

 animal husbandry investigations carried on by the Maine Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station. It is a pleasure to be able to report 

 that these investigations have progressed in a generally satisfac- 

 tory manner during the past year. In the succeeding portions of 

 this report we shall consider one by one the different lines along 

 which these investigations are progressing. 



1. Cooperative Breeding Records. 



The cooperative breeding record project, in which about 200 

 of the leading breeders of cattle in Maine, and a few outside of 

 the state, have contributed for purposes of study, exact records 

 of the breeding operations in their herd, has gone forward sat- 

 isfactorily. A very large amount of new material has been col- 

 lected in the year. It is expected that with the completion of 

 the Service Records for the calendar year 1916, there will be in 

 hand approximately 2,000 complete and connected service and 

 birth breeding records. This constitutes a wholly unique mass 

 of material for the study of many vitally important problems in 

 the physiology of reproduction in cattle. As the amount of 

 material mentioned will be amply sufficient for the study of the 

 problem in hand, it is proposed to bring this breeding record pro- 

 ject to a close at the end of September, 1917. No more service 

 records will be asked for after January i, 1917, and only such 

 birth records as are needed to complete the service records 

 already in hand. 



We wish again to express our great indebtedness to the 

 breeders who have so carefully, and conscientiously, and will- 

 ingly aided in the prosecution of this phase of the animal hus- 

 bandry investigations. 



2. Physiology of Reproduction. 



In all of its work the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station 

 endeavors in every possible way to meet the most pressing im- 

 mediate needs of the farmers of the state for practical in forma- 



