94 GROWTH 



smaller calves than those that are more liberally fed. Eckles 45 

 divided a group of Jersey and Holstein heifers into two groups. 

 One was fed a liberal ration from birth to first calving in 

 order to obtain the highest possible state of nutrition. The sec- 

 ond group was kept on a much lower plane of nutrition and at 

 nineteen months the Holsteins in this group averaged 344 

 pounds lighter than those that were well fed. The lighter fed 

 Jerseys weighed on an average 263 pounds less than those that 

 were better fed. The calves from the lighter fed Jerseys were a 

 little heavier than those from the better fed group. The scantily 

 fed Holsteins produced calves which averaged two pounds 

 lighter than those from the liberally fed group. When the com- 

 parison is made from the standpoint of weight of the young as 

 percentage of the weight of the mother the differences are strik- 

 ing. For example, the calves from the light fed Jerseys had a 

 weight of 7.4 per cent of the weight of their dams. The calves 

 from the heavier fed Jerseys, however, had a birth weight of 

 only 4.7 per cent of the weight of their dams. According to 

 Eckles, breed is a much more important factor in determining 

 birth weight than the state of nutrition of the mother during the 

 gestation period. A somewhat similar conclusion may be reached 

 from a study of other data reported 46 by the Missouri Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station. This group has reported the birth 

 weight of calves produced by dams that were fed at three differ- 

 ent nutritional levels. It is probably sufficient for our purpose 

 to say they noted no significant differences between the calves 

 of the high and medium plane group, either in weight or vigor. 

 Since the number of animals in a group was small, care must be 

 used in drawing conclusions, but it seems reasonably certain 

 that moderate underfeeding of the mother has no adverse effect 

 on the offspring at birth. Since the calves from severely under- 

 fed mothers were on the average below the others both in 

 weight and vigor, it is probably a safe generalization that in- 

 ferior young are more frequently produced by scantily fed 

 mothers than by those that are adequately nourished. 



