The Division of Agronomy, co-operating in a consulting capacity with the U. S. Department of Agriculture in general cropping experiments at Middle River, which locality represents the conditions existing at large in the delta region is also in co-operation in the same manner with the department in the rice investigations that are being conducted at Biggs.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

BY

GORDON H. TRUE

Three members of the division acted as judges at eight different county fairs, a work distinctly educational in its character and much appreciated by the fair managers and people in attendance.

Exhibits of live stock were made at the California State Fair and at the Pacific International Live Stock Show at Portland. At the State Fair, 35 animals exhibited by the division were awarded premiums consisting of 32 firsts, 8 seconds, 5 thirds, 2 fourths, 1 fifth, and 11 championships, or a total of 59 prizes. At Portland 17 animals. were awarded 8 firsts, 9 seconds, 1 third, and 5 championships, or a total of 23 prizes. The division feels that in making these exhibits it is not only giving the people of the state an opportunity to judge something of the work of the school and giving its students and employees a needed opportunity for practice in the art of fitting stock for show and of exhibiting the same, but that it is following the best practice of progressive breeders who feel the need of this annual judgment of their work in comparison with that of other breeders, at the hands of skilled and disinterested judges.

During the first nine months of this fiscal year the division has sold 57 head of breeding stock to farmers of the state and referred inquiries to other breeders resulting in sales by them.

No record has been kept of the number of visitors to the division during the year, but probably no less than five hundred persons have come seeking personal advice. The division has tried never to be too busy to give all necessary time to such people, as this appeals to it as being one of the most effective opportunities for service.

The work done in conducting official tests of dairy cows for production of milk and butter fat has been recently added to the duties of this division, Professor F. W. Woll having been placed in charge, with Miss C. J. Hill as assistant. A larger number of tests has been conducted during the current year than in any previous similar period, and new breeders are taking up this testing work each month. The tests are becoming of increasing direct value to the breeders every year, as records of production are more and more being made a con

dition of purchase of dairy stock, and the prices which stock can command are largely dependent on the records made in tests conducted by the agricultural colleges.

Official tests are conducted in co-operation with the various dairy breed associations and are of two kinds-seven or thirty days' duration, conducted almost wholly with Holstein cows, and monthly tests of two days' duration, conducted with Guernsey, Jersey, and Holstein Cows. The large proportion of tests of the latter class which are conducted for yearly records of production, is a most encouraging phase of the work in this state.

The following statement shows the number of breeders for whom tests were conducted during the year, the number of cows tested, and the records of 21 pounds of butter fat or more for seven consecutive days, which were made by California cows during the past year:

OFFICIAL TESTS OF DAIRY Cows, JULY 1, 1913-MAY 1, 1914

OFFICIAL TESTS OF DAIRY COWS, JULY 1, 1913-MAY 1, 1914-Continued

Experimental Work.

The following investigations conducted by this division have been completed during the year or are in progress at the present time.

Ground Barley as Supplementary Feed to Alfalfa.-The experiment was conducted from July 24 to October 7, 1913, with 14 cows in the University dairy herd. When fed barley in addition to alfalfa hay, the cows produced 16.2 per cent more milk and 13.2 per cent more butter fat than when fed alfalfa hay only. They also gained 12 pounds more per head in body weight when fed barley and alfalfa than during the exclusive alfalfa period. At 16 cents per gallon for milk, $24 per ton for barley and 7 cents per pound for beef, a gain of $35.82 was thus secured, against an outlay of $31.43 for barley. This does not show the entire benefit derived from the feeding of grain supplementary to alfalfa, however, as the improved condition of the cows that came as a result of the grain feeding, doubtless, also had a beneficial influence on their production during the balance of the lactation period and during the next lactation, although no definite statement can be made as to the importance in this respect of the influence of the more liberal system of feeding.

Corn Silage as a Supplement to Alfalfa Hay-Twenty-four cows separated into two even lots, were included in the experiment which was conducted from November 20, 1913, to March 5, 1914. Six cows in each lot received no grain feed in addition to alfalfa or alfalfa and silage, while the others received about five pounds per head daily in addition to roughage fed. The feeding of silage resulted in a gain of 22 per cent in milk, 10.8 per cent in butter fat, and 12.3 per cent in milk solids. At average prices for feed and products, the increase in production more than paid for the excess of feed eaten during the silage periods.

Metabolism of Fresh Milch Cows.-The investigation has so far been confined to a study of the relation between the body weights of fresh milch cows and the fat contents of their milk for two to three weeks after freshening. Six cows have been included in the trial so far. They have been weighed twice daily during the period given and the separate milkings have been tested for butter fat and solids. The investigation will be continued during the year with a view to determining the conditions under which certain cows may yield milk of abnormally high fat content immediately after freshening, and the relation between their body weights and the per cent of butter fat in the milk.