ANNUAL REPORT, 1935 17 



The Effect of Feeding a Vitamin A Concentrate on Reproduction in 

 Cattle. (J. G. Archibald, V. A. Rice, and C. H. Parsons.) This project is 

 being conducted in cooperation with the Chas. M. Cox Company of Boston 

 and the National Oil Products Company of Harrison, N. J. Approximately 

 two-thirds of the milking cows and all of the heifers one year old and over, in 

 the college dairy herd, are being utilized in a long-time experiment on the 

 problem. The vitamin concentrate is incorporated in the regular grain mixture 

 at the rate of 5 pounds per ton. Detailed records are being kept of every phase 

 of the reproductive life of all animals in the group and will be checked against 

 past reproductive history of the herd. A group not receiving the vitamin con- 

 centrate but treated identically in other respects is serving as a control. As 

 the experiment has been in progress only a few months results are not yet 

 available. 



Studies in the Chemistry of Pasture Grass. (J. G. Archibald and E. 

 Bennett. ) Results of three years' work on the composition of individual species 

 of grass appeared in the Journal of Agricultural Research for April 15, 1935 

 (Vol. 50, No. 8), under the title, "Yield and Chemical Composition of Certain 

 Species of Grass." 



The grasses used in this study were grown without fertilizer other than that 

 residual in the soil. The series of plots on which they were grown is now being 

 utilized to study the effect of fertilizer on the several species. As noted last 

 year the work has been seriously interfered with by winterkilling during the 

 past two winters, which have been unusually severe. Results will not be 

 available for at least another year. 



A second series of plots has been established on a very different soil type, 

 in order to ascertain what effect, if any, soil type has on the species in question. 

 This phase of the work was retarded a year by flooding and winterkilling. 



The Vitamin Content of Certain Pasture Grasses. (W. S. Ritchie and 

 J. G. Archibald. ) This project, inaugurated this year, is being conducted in 

 cooperation with the Department of Chemistry, this department furnishing 

 samples of several species of grass suitably prepared for feeding to white rats, 

 and the Chemistry Department conducting the bio-assay. The project has 

 been in effect only a few months and results are not yet available. 



Progeny Performance in Sheep. (C. H. Parsons, R. C. Foley, and R. 

 W. Phillips.) A cooperative project with the U. S. D. A. was started in 1932, 

 using the Southdown and Shropshire flocks of sheep, in order to determine the 

 inherent capacity of specific families or strains of sheep for the utilization of 

 feed and the production of meat and wool, and to improve them by a study of 

 the manner in which they transmit these characters. 



Accurate records are kept on all sheep, including lambing records, gains in 

 weight, type scores made on all lambs at 140 days of age, and carcass grades 

 of all sheep slaughtered. The wool on each sheep is graded yearly, weighed, 

 and samples are analyzed by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the U. S. D. A. 

 A specialist from the Bureau visits the college at least once each year to counsel 

 with a committee from the college in grading the mutton and wool character- 

 istics of the flock. This contact helps to keep the records uniform and com- 

 parable with similar records at other institutions. 



Sufficient records have now accumulated to give valuable information on the 

 offspring of the sires used in recent years and a study is now being made of this 

 material. This study includes four living rams and careful consideration will 

 be given to the records of each before the 1936 breeding season. It is now 

 possible to use proven sires in our flock of sheep. 



