868 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.35 



grazing industry of the blue grass regions of Virginia, North Carolina, Ten- 

 nessee, Kentucky, and West "Virginia, the topics dealt with being the different 

 grades of blue grass pastures, effect of winter grazing on the sod, kinds of live 

 stock raised, wintering the steers, getting a sod, value of a pasture when grazed 

 with cattle and with sheep, maintaining the fertility of the soil, the proper rate 

 to graze, care of pastures, and the supply of stockers. 



In estimating the value of blue grass pasture when grazed with cattle, data 

 were collected from 22 pastures in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, 

 averaging 193 acres and G0.4 head of cattle. The average results obtained were 

 as follows : Yearly gain per steer 386 lbs., and per acre, 121 lbs. ; gross returns, 

 $12.40 per acre ; cost of wintering per steer $12.13, and per acre of pasture, $3.80 ; 

 and net returns, $8.60 per acre. The acreage of pasture per steer varied from 

 5.55 to 1.8 ; the yearly gain per acre from 68 to 222 lbs. ; the cost of wintering 

 from $30.83 to $7.50 per steer ; and the net returns per acre from $2.10 to $14.08. 

 The values assigned in obtaining these results were 7 cts. per pound as the 

 purchase price of stockers, 8 cts. as the selling price, $4 a ton for silage, 60 

 cts. a bushel for corn, $12 a ton for hay, $6 a ton for corn stover, and $4 a ton for 

 straw. Taxes, insurance, fencing, and labor of caring for stock were not in- 

 cluded. 



Data on pasturing sheep on six pastures show that the annual returns per 

 acre of pasture, with wool at 25 cts. per pound and lambs at 7 cts. per pound, 

 varied from $2.90 to $12.66. The author states that the average cost of winter- 

 ing sheep is about 75 cts. per head. 



[Animal husbandry], Missouri Sta. Bui. HI (1916), pp. 19-25, figs. 5). — 

 Notes on the follo\\ing investigations, continuing work previously noted (E. S. 

 R., 33, p. 265), are presented: 



Use of feed experiment, by P. F. Trowbridge, C. R. Moulton, and L. D. 

 Haigh. — In this experiment it was found that heifers grown on a low plane of 

 nutrition seem to produce as well-fleshed calves as those grown on a higher 

 plane of nutrition. 



A thrifty yearling steer has a strong tendency to grow. One that gained 

 only 0.5 lb. a day became thinner in flesh. At the end of a year on such 

 a plane of nutrition he had less tendency to gi"ow and an increased tendency 

 to put on fat. A thrifty yearling steer kept at body maintenance weight 

 for a year made a marked skeletal growth and used most of his reserve tissue 

 fat but none of the fat stored in the skeleton. Another such steer continued 

 to grow when made to lose 0.5 lb. a day, but the fat from the skeleton as 

 well as the tissue fat was consumed during a year of such treatment. The 

 composition of a thin 3-year-old steer is given as water 56.4 per cent, protein 

 18.85, fat 18.59, and ash 5.72; of the first 500 lbs. gain made, water 37.58, 

 protein 11.92, fat 48.56, and ash 1.96; and of the second 500 lbs. gain made, 

 water 17.77, protein 5.15, fat 75.88, and ash 1.5. Measurements indicate that 

 such an animal makes a marked skeletal growth during the period of fattening. 



Factors influencing the normal rate of growth in domestic animals and the 

 permanency of the effects of arrested development, by F. B. Mumford and 

 P. F. Trowbridge. — Beef calves are the subject of this experiment, which 

 has been in progress only a short time. It has not been difficult to hold the 

 animals in the low plane of nutrition group to the required rate of growth on 

 a roughage ration of alfalfa hay and oat straw, 3 : 2. 



Age as a factor in animal breeding, by F. B. Mumford and L. A. Weaver. — 

 Observations have been made on 615 pigs of sows of three groups, immature, 

 half-mature, and mature. The pigs from very young mothers are apparently 

 somewhat less vigorous and smaller at birth than the pigs from the older 



