1 8 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [vol. x 



Dehorned steers, fed in box stalls loose, say 8 or lo together, do better 

 than steers fed tied, on the same food. 



With dairy cattle our experience has shown that as regards milk 

 and butter production individuality is a very important factor. Ad- 

 mitting that we have breeds specially adapted to dairy purposes, e.g., 

 Jersey, Ayrshire, Holstein, etc., the best individual must be looked for 

 among them rather than a comparison made between the breeds. This 

 entails the constant testing of the milk and a daily record of yield. 

 There is no best breed, all points considered. 



The feeding of ensilage or other succulent fodder is essential to cheap 

 milk production, especially in the winter season, and the hays of clover 

 and alfalfa may be used with profit to reduce the meal portion of the 

 ration. 



The practice of "soiling" or feeding green forage allows a larger 

 number of cows to be maintained on a given area than if the land is 

 pastured, and is to be considered as essential to intensive dairying. 

 Many "soiling" crops (e.g., peas, oats, rye, corn and clover) have 

 been tried and reported on with special reference to their value for sup- 

 plementing the pasture during times of drought and as the season ad- 

 vances. 



While the total quantities of milk and butter fat in a given period 

 may be influenced by the feeding, it does not appear that the percent- 

 age of fat is appreciably affected by the character of the feed. 



In the breeding and feeding of swine several thousands of animals 

 have been used. The stock experimented with for the most part has 

 consisted of Yorkshire, Berkshire and Tamworths. Among the more 

 important lines of investigation might be mentioned the breeding of 

 animals specially suited for the production of export bacon. The im- 

 portance of this work is obvious when we remember the very large pro- 

 portions to which our trade with England in this commodity has grown. 



And in this connection I may briefly refer to an exhaustive examina- 

 tion into the character and causes of "Soft Pork" undertaken by the 

 Division of Chemistry — an investigation that lasted three years and in 

 which more than 300 pigs were put under test. We were able to 

 establish by chemical analysis that certain rations, and especially those 

 containing a large proportion of Indian corn, produced an undesirable 

 bacon by reason of the high percentage of olein in its fat. And among 

 other important findings we learnt that there was no better corrective 

 to this undesirable quality of softness than the by-product skim milk, 

 the addition of which to the grain ration tended also to thriftiness and 

 rapid growth. 



