30 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. 



for probably about three-fourths of all its meats. This certainly is not 

 because we can not raise beef, pork, or mutton in Florida ; for we do 

 actually raise large numbers of cattle, hogs and sheep. From the re- 

 sults of the test given in this bulletin we find that we can produce beef 

 nearly as cheaply here as elsewhere ; but at the present time fat cattle 

 on foot sell for considerably less per pound than do fat cattle in the 

 Northern States. On the other hand, the meat on the block is practi- 

 cally the same in price. This is due largely to the inferior grade of live 

 stock common in the South, and can only be changed by the improve- 

 ment of the grade of cattle. 



IMPROVED BLOOD INCREASES MEAT YIELD. 

 The native cows and steers resemble animals of the dairy breeds 

 with regard to beef production. They lack the width and thickness 

 of loin, the round full quarter, and the thick well-covered rib, which 

 are so characteristic of animals bred for beef. The beef steer makes 

 its increase in weight in these parts the parts that are most valuable 

 for meat. The frame of the native animal is small and narrow, and 

 while it makes a good gain in weight when fattened, yet the gain is 

 made in those parts of the body that are of little food value, as the fat 

 around the kidneys and viscera. The animal that makes the gain in 

 weight in the valuable cuts, such as the loin, quarter, and rib, is natu- 

 rally the most profitable. 



GRADING-UP NOT DIFFICULT. 



The improvement of cattle by grading-up is not difficult. The one 

 important point is the selection of a good sire. The sire should be a 

 pure-bred animal of one of the beef breeds, and not produced from a 

 cross or mixture of breeds. The usual objection is the cost of a pure- 

 bred sire. This may be $100 or $150. True, this does seem a great 

 price to one who is accustomed to purchase a native bull for $25. But, 

 if a farmer has a herd of fifty cows, the increased value of the first lot 

 of calves would more than pay for the pure-bred sire. Suppose that 

 the first calves from the pure-bred sire number thirty ; at the end of 

 three years the gain in selling price over native stock would be more 

 than $300, or twice the cost of the sire. This leaves out of considera- 

 tion the younger calves, and supposes that all are sold for beef, while 

 in reality the heifers would be retained to improve the herd. 



FEEDING EXPERIMENT. 



The experiment was conducted for the purpose of securing infor- 

 mation on the following points : 



1. What combination of our feeds w r ill give the best results for 

 beef production? 



2. What will be the cost of producing a pound of gain? 



3. How long a feeding period is required to fatten Florida-grown 

 cattle for the local market? 



4. What average daily gain in weight should the Florida feeder 

 expect? 



