REPORT BY PROJECTS 



ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 

 Sheep Breeding — (Adams Fund) 



The three distinct groups of sheep of which the Station flock is com- 

 posed, as reported last year, are still being bred separately. The object 

 for the present is to continue selection within each group so as to develop 

 the individual characteristics or merits of each group before attempting 

 to merge them. The work is in charge of E. G. Ritzman. 



The Southdown x Rambouillet group, which is now in its fourth genera- 

 tion of breeding, appears to transmit those characteristics for which it 

 has been selected and bred with as much stability as any of the standard 

 breeds. These are primarily in traits of conformation and character of 

 wool. 



The Eambouillet x Oxford cross has reached only the first genera- 

 tion of offspring, and it is in the second generation where rigid culling 

 will be applied on a basis of milk yield and of fecundity. 



The Bell flock, or multi-nippled sheep, are also being culled for devel- 

 oping a high milk yield, primarilj^ however, on the basis of four nipples of 

 equal functional capacity. 



Since the final objectives are (1) high fecundity, (2) good weight of 

 lambs for slaughter at a relatively early age, and (3) good fleece in the 

 breeding flock as a whole, these traits in the offspring of the three groups 

 may be summarized as in Table I. 



Table I — Traits in offspring of sheep crosses * 



* The figures represent a varying number of animals and are offered only as a general 

 picture of results to date. The results of the Bell flock must be discounted, since they 

 are taken onh' from 14 animals over a period of two years. 



Data accumulated on the inheritance and character traits of wool 

 during the last fifteen years are now in process of preparation for publi- 

 cation as a technical bulletin of the Station series. 



Nutrition Studies with Beef Steers (Adams Fund in cooperation with the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington) 



The main line of procedure followed in the nutrition project during 

 the past year was a continuation of the study of the influence of environ- 

 mental temperature on heat metabolism of beef steers. As in the past, 

 the active participation of Dr. F. G. Benedict of the Carnegie Institu- 



