CALF FEEDING IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 3 



more profitable to sell the calves while they are yet young, thus making 

 it possible to increase the size of the breeding herd. As stated before, 

 some results of calf-feeding work have been published; the present 

 publication must be considered only a report of the progress of the 

 work, as the experiments are being continued and new phases studied. 

 The calves in this test were divided into three lots so that a com- 

 parison of the value of certain feeds for fattening young calves could 

 be made. The following problems were studied : 



1. The calves were raised on the farm where they were fattened, 

 and one object was to learn whether a farmer profitably can raise and 

 fatten calves for the market by the time they are a year old. 



2. To make a comparison of southern feeds and combinations of 

 feeds that may be used for fattening calves during the winter months. 



This work was carried on upon the farm of O. E. Cobb, of Sumter- 

 ville, Ala., with whom the bureau and the station have been in co- 

 operation for a number of years. Mr. Cobb furnished the calves and 

 the feed and the Bureau of Animal Industry and the Alabama 

 Experiment Station provided a trained man to live on the farm and 

 have personal supervision of the experimental work. In this way all 

 the tests were made under average farm conditions and at the same 

 time were executed in an unusually accurate and painstaking manner. 

 The junior author of this bulletin was stationed upon the farm and 

 had personal supervision of the work. 



KIND OF CALVES USED. 



The calves used in this work were all high-grade animals. They 

 were not, however, uniform in breed and breeding, as Hereford, 

 Shorthorn, Aberdeen- Angus, and Red Polled blood were all repre- 

 sented. The calves, however, were far better than the average raised 

 in the western part of Alabama, as they were from one-half to seven- 

 eighths pure bred. The majority of the calves were raised on the 

 farm where the feeding was done; however, there were not a suffi- 

 cient number, so some were purchased from neighboring farmers in 

 Sumter County. All had been born the preceding spring, so they 

 were from 6 to 8 months of age when the fattening experiment began. 

 During the summer they had run with their dams on good pasture, 

 and during this time they demanded practically no attention from 

 the owner, except to see that they were salted and dipped. Both the 

 cows and the calves were dipped regularly all through the summer 

 months to reduce the number of ticks. 



On November 19, 1911, when the fattening period began, the calves 

 averaged 376 pounds in weight. 



GENERAL PLAN OF THE WORK. 



When fall arrived and the pastures were exhausted, the calves 

 were taken from their dams and placed in this experiment. The 



