REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



stallion Bed Oak has been leased to the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College for the purpose of breeding to mares which fulfill certain 

 prescribed conditions. 



An experiment in breeding gray draft horses is in progress in 

 Iowa, in cooperation with the Iowa Experiment Station, Four out 

 of five foals dropped during 1911 are living. Two of these are by 

 a Shire stallion out of Clydesdale mares, and two by a Clydesdale 

 stallion out of Shire mares. All the mares are worked on the farm. 



Although the desired appropriation for the encouragement of 

 the breeding of horses for the United States Army was not provided 

 by Congress, a small beginning was made in cooperation with the 

 "War Department, the slight expense on the part of the Department 

 of Agriculture being paid from the appropriation for animal breed- 

 ing and feeding experiments. Two Thoroughbred stallions were 

 presented to the War Department by Mr. August Belmont, and 

 these have been turned over to this department for use in accord- 

 ance with a cooperative plan. The stallions are being stood for 

 public service at the remount station of the Army at Front Royal, 

 Va., under the direction of the Bureau of Animal Industry, and have 

 been bred to about 50 mares. Only approved mares are bred to 

 these stallions, and each mare owner agrees to give the Government 

 an option on the resulting foal at three years at $150. It is hoped 

 that Congress will provide funds for the extension of horse breeding 

 for the Army, as it is evident that the Government must do some- 

 thing to encourage the breeding of horses of the proper types if the 

 Army of the future is to be supplied with an adequate number of 

 suitable remounts. 



SHEEP AND GOATS. 



Satisfactory progress has been made in the breeding of range sheep 

 in Wyoming. The ewes gave an 80 per cent crop of lambs last 

 spring, and those ewes which are to continue in the experiment 

 sheared 13.1 pounds per head. 



Southdown sheep are being bred at the Morgan horse farm in Ver- 

 mont, and Barbados sheep at the experiment farm of the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry at Beltsville, Md. Native goats are being bred at 

 the bureau farm for milk production, and in addition some repre- 

 sentatives of the Saanen breed have recently been acquired. 



CATTLE BREEDING. 



The breeding of milking Shorthorn cattle in cooperation with the 

 Minnesota Experiment Station has made satisfactory advance dur- 

 ing the year, four herds having been added to the circuit. The 

 operations last year were mostly confined to the general improve- 

 ment of the herds. Better care and management have resulted in 



