UNITED STATES DEPARTMEl^T OF AGRICULTURE 



jru^^w*!. 



BULLETIN No. 777 



contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 JOHN R. MOHLER, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



July 10, 1919 



FATTENING STEERS ON SUMMElR PASTURE IN 



THE SOUTH. 



By W. F. Waed, formerly in Animal Husbandry Dimsion, Bureau of Animal In- 

 dustry; Dan T. Gray, formerly Professor of Animal Husbandry, Alabama 

 Polytechnic Institute; and E. R. Lloyd, Director of Mississippi Experiment 

 Station} 



THE experiments described in this bulletin required several years 

 for completion, but in view of present opportunities for live 

 stocli in the Soutli and efforts to reduce production costs, the 

 results are of unusual current interest. The bulletin treats each ex- 

 periment separately as follows : 



Page. 



I. Fattening Steers on Summer Pasture, Alabama, 1912 3 



11. Fattening Steers on Summer Pasture, Alabama, 1913 8 



III. Fattening Steers on Summer Pasture, Mississippi, 1915 12 



IV. Fattening Steers on Summer Pasture, Mississippi, 1916 16 



V. Summary of the Four Years' Summer Fattening Work 21 



PURPOSE OF WORK AND PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS. 



The producer of beef in the South depends largely on pasture for 

 growing and finishing his cattle for market. A great variety of 

 valuable pasture plants is found. Some of the j)lants make rapid 

 growth early in the spring; others flourish later in the heat of 

 summer ; still others furnish abundant grazing in the fall. Coupled 

 with these conditions is the smaller proportion of tillable land in the 

 South than is found in the corn-belt States ; that fact makes the area 

 left for grazing ^proportionately more extensive. For these reasons 

 sound information on the proper use of southern pasture lands for 

 beef production is of more than average importance. 



The first of a series of experiments in fattening steers on grass, con- 

 ducted jointly by the Bureau of Animal Industry and the Alabama- 

 Experiment Station, was begun in 1908 and continued during each 

 grazing period until 1913, inclusive. In 1915 similar work was 

 commenced in Mississippi cooperatively with the Mississippi Experi- 

 ment Station. Results of summer feeding to and including 1911, 



1 Acknowledgment is due G. A. Scott and S. W. Greene, of the Animal Husbandry -.Di- 

 vision, United States Department of Agriculture, for assistance in compiling this bulletin. 



102287°— 19— Bull. 777 1 



