REPORT OF TEE DIRECTOR 35 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



DIVISION OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. 



The scope of work of this Division includes directly the care, breeding, feeding, 

 housing and marketing of horses, cattle, sheep and swine and their products on the 

 Central Experimental Farm, together with the testing of food stuffs and the testing 

 of methods in care and management and of all machinery pertaining thereto. In 

 consultation with the branch Farm Superintendents, this Division also assists largely 

 in these various operations on all the branch Farms where live stock is maintained, 

 thus systematizing and consolidating all the live stock experimental work on the 

 Dominion Experimental Farms. 



For the past year the animal husbandry work on the Central Experimental 

 Farm has been fairly interesting, considering the numerous and varied difficulties 

 encountered. The summer feeding of live stock was carried on under most adverse 

 conditions. The pasture area allowed to each class of stock is exceedingly small, only 

 a little over 19 acres being available for this purpose. Owing to the early spring 

 frosts which killed out the clover, followed by the severe drought of midsummer, 

 not only were these small pastures severely checked in their growth, but the soiling 

 crops supplied by the Field Husbandry Division were also very limited. However, 

 the copious fall rains and the late open season largely assisted in putting all live 

 stock in good condition before the winter months. 



On October 11, this Division suffered a severe setback in the loss by fire of the 

 main dairy barn, calf barn, bull barn and steer barn. This necessitated the tempor- 

 ary discontinuance of most of the experimental work on this Farm, not only with 

 dairy and beef cattle, but also with horses, sheep, and swine, since the buildings in 

 which these latter classes were housed were of necessity utilized in some measure 

 for the housing of cattle. With the completion of the new buildings, now under 

 construction, all such postponed work will be again taken up. 



There are 465 head of live stock at present in the stables, made up as follows: 

 140 cattle, 27 horses, 81 sheep, and 217 swine. 



HORSES. 



Although the horses on the Central Experimental Farm are still expected to do 

 all the labour connected with the various Divisions, yet the numbers now include 

 six pure-bred Clydesdale mares and four grade Clydesdale mares, all of a uniform 

 type and exceptionally good quality and breeding, with which experimental breed- 

 ing work is being started. A number of the.-e mares are in foal, and experimental 

 work along the lines of feeding, care, management and housing of pregnant mares 

 and foals is being planned. 



The horse labour supplied to the various Divisions on the Central Experimental 

 Farm amounted to 6,889 days, which, at the conservative valuation of 70 cents per 

 day, gives a total return of $4,822.30. 



No experimental horse feeding work was conducted during the past year. 



DAIRY CATTLE, 



The pure-bred diairy herds now in the stables are Ayrshire, Canadian, Holstein, 

 Guernsey and Jersey. All these herds have made normal growth during the past 

 year and have given satisf-actory returns. 



Aside from the pure-bred herds, there are two excellent grade herds — Holstein 

 and Ayrshire — which have given an excellent account of themselves, both in their 

 production and in their breeding qualities. These grade herds have also been utilized 

 quite largely in dairy cattle feeding experiments. 

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