124 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



selected areas can doubtless be found on which feed production 

 can be economically carried on to produce a sufficient quantity of 

 hay and silage to carry the cows through the winter. Where an 

 owner is caught with more cattle than he has feed for, he is in a 

 serious predicament. A sufficient supply of silage and hay, silage 

 and cottonseed meal, or even of hay alone, would have been cheap 

 insurance against the losses of last winter. 



As a constructive suggestion, it is advised that the pasture 

 problem be attacked without delay in a systematic, thorough and 

 practical manner, co-operatively by the agronomist and the animal 

 husbandman. This plan need not be unduly expensive. It should 



Systematic ^^ carried out in a simple, thorough way. Any studies which are 

 Study of Pas- , , , , , , , ^ , , ... ^, , , , ^ 



turaae Prob- ma^de should be made under field conditions. Ihey should be sys- 

 tem Urged tematically located and carried on at a sufficient number of points 

 so that the influence of different types of soil, topography and cli- 

 mate will receive adequate attention. Furthermore, there should be 

 such a co-ordination of effort that the results obtained at any 

 given point will shed light on the problem as a whole. We 

 are all agreed, I take it, that th« problem is urgent. It is 

 therefore necessary that results be obtained promptly which 

 will answer the questions of most pressing importance in a 

 minimum of time. No plan should be adopted which will 

 necessitate a large amount of preliminary detail work in the 

 way of providing equipment and facilities. Sufficient num- 

 bers of cattle should be used to make each experiment in it- 

 self of commercial importance. That is to say, in the case of 

 stockers, the number should be at least a carload in every ex- 

 periment; in the case of studies on the maintenance of a breeding 

 herd, a herd with a minimum of at least fifty cows, should be 

 used, so that at least a carload of cattle would be produced by 

 each breeding unit each year. The methods and equipment used 

 Results ^Maif should be such that successful results can be immediately applied 

 Be Obtained to the business on a large scale. The experiments should be 

 planned primarily from a business standpoint, and none should be 

 attempted which do not promise in all probability, under com- 

 petent management, to show a profit. All records should be kept 

 with systematic care and precision by the methods now commonly 

 accepted as standard for such work. The record keeping feature 

 of the work is not properly chargeable against the cattle on 

 experiment and constitutes the principal item of overhead ex- 

 pense. Properly handled, the receipts from sales of cattle used 



