ioi4 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [march, 



The third experiment was with a system of heavier feeding. Eleven 

 bullocks on the experimental farm were fed liberally, and were given 

 good hay and grass throughout the winter. During four months, 

 instead of a decrease as in the other cases, the total increase in live- 

 weight, when reduced to carcass value, was equal to about 255. per 

 head. On the other hand, each bullock consumed at least a ton of 

 hay in addition to grass. 



Another point, however, is made. The bullocks made good progress 

 during November and December, and again in February and March, 

 but during a cold spell in January they lost no less than 22 lb. per 

 head. In another experiment, carried on at the same time, in which 

 steers were receiving 6 lb. of maize meal per head, in addition to 

 grass and hay, they made during this same severe weather a gain of 

 3 lb. per head, and it is suggested that if the bullocks in the former 

 experiment had also received some additional feeding during the severe 

 weather, the gain in live-weight at the end would have been much 

 greater. It is also remarked that the bullocks, in addition to their 

 increased weight, were in good condition in April, and would have 

 been better had they been properly cared for in January. 



A comparison was also made between allowing bullocks a run over 

 grazing land and confining them in yards. Eight beasts were given 

 a run over fifteen acres of useful grazing land, with a large open shed 

 and an unlimited supply of hay. Eight others were confined in a 

 large open yard with a similar shed and supply of hay. Each lot had 

 6 lb. per head of purchased feeding stuffs daily. The result appeared 

 to be distinctly in favour of confinement, the weekly increase per head 

 in live-weight during three months being 14 lb., compared with 10*3 lb. 

 in the case of those with a run over pastures. 



Pig-Feeding Experiments (Jour. South-Eastern Agric. Coll., No. 18, 

 1909). — English and foreign barley were compared as foods for pork 

 production. The foreign barley gave a rather better return than the 

 English, on the average \ lb. less of the foreign barley being required 

 for each 1 lb. gain in live-weight. This is the same result as that 

 obtained on the College farm in the winter of 1906-7. It is claimed, 

 therefore, that foreign barley has a rather better pork-producing value 

 than English^ and that its use may be recommended when its price is 

 below or equal to that of English grinding barley. 



A trial was also made of the value of coal slack as an addition to 

 the diet of fattening pigs. 



Breeding from Ewes at an Early Age (Jour. South-Eastern Agric. 

 Coll., No. 18, 1909). — The object of this experiment is to ascertain to 

 what extent breeding from ewe tegs (i.e., tupping at seven months of 

 age instead of at one year seven months) can be carried on without 

 appreciably reducing the size, vigour, and constitution of the ewes. 



Fifty Border-Leicester — Cheviot, or Half-bred ewe tegs, were divided 

 into two lots, and one lot was mated with Southdown ram lambs in 

 November and December. Both lots were wintered on grass with a 

 few roots and hay, and were treated exactly alike until a fortnight 

 before lambing, when the in-lamb lot received more nutritious food. 

 Seven of the ewe tegs thus mated proved barren, but the remaining 

 eighteen gave birth to twenty lambs, one of which died soon after birth. 

 Two of the tegs had twin lambs, but one of them produced insufficient 



