Some Alabama grass steers. In Experimental work 

 in summer 1909. 



RAISING BEEF CATTLE IN ALABAMA 



Bv Dan T. Gray and W. F. Ward. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The work of eradicating the "Texas-fever" tick is pro- 

 gressing satisfactoiily in the South; every year new areas 

 are freed from the tick, and with the progress of the work 

 there comes an added interest in all kinds of cattle pro- 

 duction. When the ticks in a county are exterminated, 

 renewed interest begins to be immediately manifested in 

 the beef cattle business, as the Southern farmers now^ real- 

 ize that the "Texas-fever" tick has been practically the 

 only drawback to the cattle business in the past. When 

 the tick is finally exterminated no section of the United 

 States will be as well suited to beef production as the 

 South, because of ils mild climate, long grazing season, and 

 cheap lands. 



At the present time the South produces but a small pro- 

 portion of the meat that her people consume. In Alabama 

 there are but 544,000 head of cattle other than milk ani- 

 mals; or, in other words, there are about 1.2 head of cattle 

 in the State to each family. If no outside meats were 



