BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 101 



DAIRY STATISTICS. 



Considerable attention has been ^iven to the gathering, compiling, 

 and charting of statistical dairy information to meet the usual gen- 

 eral demand as well as special requests from various war boards for 

 sucli data. A circular on the trend of the dairy-cattle industry ^Yas 

 published and material relating to the trend of the butter and cheese 

 industries has been prepared for publication. 



DAIRY ENGINEERING. 



The Dairy Division has continued to deal with various engineering 

 problems relating to dairying. Subjects given attention were the 

 preparation of plans and specifications for buildings and machinery, 

 the superintendence of construction, the inspection of materials and 

 equipment ap,d the designing and construction of apparatus, includ- 

 ing work for the bureau and other institutions and for the dairy in- 

 chistry. Information has been furnished regarding dairy buildings 

 and other problems in dairy engineering in reply to inquiries on 

 these subjects, and 362 blueprints of various dairy buildings have 

 been prepared for field men. Several new plans for dairy buildings 

 were designed, including a creamery, a cheese factory, and a cow 

 stable. A bulletin on the economical use of fuel was written and 

 published. 



DAIRY-CATTLE BREEDING. 



A start has been made in the extensive dair^^-cattle breeding ex- 

 }>eriments that were outlined in last year's report. The work deals 

 with line breeding, inbreeding, and crossbreeding, the fundamental 

 object being to determine the best method of developing the better- 

 producing cows in large numbers. For work in line breeding as com- 

 pared with the mating of unrelated animals a herd of 35 registered 

 IIolstein-Friesian cows has been established at the Beltsville farm, 

 and the producing ability of the cows is now being tested. Other 

 breeding projects are to be carried out cooperatively with various 

 experiment stations. 



A study of the unusually prepotent breeding animals of the IIol- 

 stein-Friesian breed is alniost completed. In the study of 12G sires 

 which have daughters with yearly records that conform to certain 

 arbitrary standards, which were established for this work, it was 

 found that-all but 14 of them traced back to five sires. 



MEAT INSPECTION DIVISION. 



The Federal meat inspection, conducted by the Meat Inspection 

 Division, with Dr. R. P. Steddom as chief, reached the largest pro- 

 portions in its history. The number of animals slaughtered was 20.6 

 per cent greater than in the preceding fiscal year and 21.6 per cent 

 greater than the average for the last 12 years during which the pres- 

 ent meat-inspection law has been operative. 



INSPECTION OF DOMESTIC MEATS. 



Inspection was conducted at 895 establishments in 263 cities and 

 towns, as compared with 884 establishments in 263 cities and towns 

 during the fiscal year 1918. 



Inspection was begun at 84 establishments and withdrawn from 73 

 during the year, as compared 'vith 83 and 74, respectively, during 



