CALF FEEDING IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 6 
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 
