Ar 
 
 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 A. D. M Hi AIN, Ciiikk of Bukkau. 
 
 AN OUTLINE OF THE WORK OF THE 
 ANIMAL HUSBANDRY OFFICE. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 1906. 
 
 UNIV. OF FL LIB 
 DOCUMENTS DEPT. 
 
 U.S. DEPOSITORY 
 
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY OFFICE. 
 
 Administrative Staff. 
 
 Animal Husbandman: George M. Rommel. 
 Assistant Animal Husbandman: G. Arthur Bell. 
 
 Animal breeding investigations. 
 
 Animal Husbandman, in Charge. 
 Scientific Assistant: E. H. Riley. 
 
 Supervision of -pedigree record associations. 
 Herdbook Assistant: George It. Samson. 
 
 Poultry investigations. 
 Poultry Assistant: Rob R. Slocum. 
 
 Hog investigations. 
 Scientific Assistant: L. R. Da vies. 
 
 Cooperative Staff. 
 
 Animal nutrition investigations. 
 
 Expert in Charge: H. P. Armsby. 
 
 Assistants: F. August Fries, W. W. Braman, F. W. Chris- 
 
 tensen. 
 
 Beef production in the South. 
 
 Expert in Charge: D. T. Gray. 
 Assistant: W. F. Ward. 
 
 Horse breeding investigations. 
 
 Expert in Charge of Colorado Work: W. L. Carly-le. 
 Expert in Charge of Vermont Work: W. F. Hammond, 
 
 Poultry breeding investigations. 
 Expert in Charge: Gilbert M. Gowell. 
 
 Sheep breeding investigation*. 
 Expert in Charge: George E. Morton. 
 
 Turkey breeding investigations. 
 
 Expert in Charge: Leon J. Cole. 
 Assistant: W. F. Kirkpatrick. 
 
 (2) 
 
AN OUTLINE OF THE WORK OF THE ANI- 
 MAL HUSBANDRY OFFICE. 
 
 The animal husbandry work of the Bureau of 
 Animal Industry began on July 1, 1901, with the 
 appointment of the present Animal Husbandman 
 as Expert in Animal Husbandry. The duties of 
 the office for two years were principally the com- 
 pilation of information pertaining to animal hus- 
 bandry, attendance at stock shows and breeders' 
 meetings, and answering correspondence. Under 
 the provisions of the tariff laws the supervision of 
 pedigree-record associations by the Department of 
 Agriculture was in 1903 assigned to the Animal 
 Husbandry Office, and in February, 1905, an As- 
 
 tant Animal Husbandman was appointed, the 
 Expert in Animal Husbandry being placed under 
 the classified service at this time as Animal Hus- 
 bandman of the Bureau. 
 
 The first independent investigation in animal 
 husbandry began in July, 1905, with experiments 
 to study the effect of cotton seed and cotton-seed 
 meal when fed to hogs, and was followed by the 
 inauguration of poultry experiments and breeding 
 experiments with small animals in 1906. In the 
 
meantime the work of supervision of pedigree- 
 record associations had grown enough to demand 
 the entire attention of a herdbook assistant, and 
 such an assistant was appointed in July, 1906. 
 
 At the second session of the Fifty-eighth Con- 
 gress, in the act making appropriations for the 
 Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year end- 
 ing June 30, 1905, $25,000 was appropriated for 
 experiments in animal breeding and feeding. The 
 Animal Husbandry Office was put in charge of 
 this work. The cooperative work now under way 
 comprizes investigations in animal nutrition in co- 
 operation with the Pennsylvania Experiment Sta- 
 tion, in beef production in the South in coopera- 
 tion with the Alabama Experiment Station, in 
 horse breeding in cooperation with the Colorado 
 and Vermont experiment stations, in poultry 
 breeding in cooperation with the Maine Experi- 
 ment Station, in sheep breeding in cooperation 
 with the Wyoming Experiment Station, in turkey 
 breeding in cooperation with the Rhode Island 
 Experiment Station, and in zebra-hybrid breeding 
 in cooperation with the Maryland Experiment 
 Station. This appropriation has been continued 
 from year to year and, altho small, promises to 
 be a profitable investment and one which will 
 be highly beneficial to the animal industry of 
 the country. The relations of the Bureau with 
 the experiment stations have been harmonious. 
 The work will be continued and enlarged as ap- 
 propriations permit. 
 
WORK IN WASHINGTON. 
 
 ANIMAL BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 Animal Husbandman, in charge. 
 E. II. Riley, Scientific Assistant. 
 
 In the advance that is being made in the science 
 of animal breeding it is very important that care- 
 ful study should be given to underlying principles. 
 The great mass of material in the herd-books of 
 this and other countries is of the greatest value, 
 and wherever used has given very important re- 
 sults, but much more use can be made of it to 
 advantage. A study of two Poland China records 
 by the office showed that, contrary to popular 
 opinion, the size of litter of sows of this breed has 
 increased measurably in the twenty years from 
 1882 to 1902. These results are being followed by 
 a study of the inheritance of size of litter by the 
 animal husbandman in collaboration with Dr. E. F. 
 Phillips, of the Bureau of Entomology of this 
 Department. 
 
 For scientific study with animals, the smaller 
 animals like guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, rats, etc., 
 are generally used for this work, and the Bureau 
 is fortunate in having a large stock, especially of 
 guinea pigs, about 3,000 of which are raised an- 
 nually for the use of its laboratories. Observations 
 are made on these animals, and the results ob- 
 tained are applied to the larger animals under 
 farm conditions. Experiments in close breeding 
 and selection are under way; these will be fol- 
 lowed by experiments in crossbreeding. This 
 
6 
 
 work is being done in collaboration with Dr. 
 E. C. Schroeder, Superintendent of the Bureau 
 Experiment Station. 
 
 SUPERVISION OF PEDIGREE-RECORD ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 George R. Samson, Ilerdbook Assistant. 
 
 The tariff laws of the United States permit a 
 citizen to import animals free of duty for breeding 
 purposes if they are pure bred, of a recognized 
 breed, and duly registered in the books of record 
 established for the breed, the Secretary of Agri- 
 culture being authorized " to determine and cer- 
 tify to the Secretary of the Treasury what are 
 recognized breeds and purebred animals." To 
 carry out these provisions the Secretary of Agri- 
 culture certifies certain pedigree-record associa- 
 tions to the Secretary of the Treasury, and only 
 animals which are recorded in these books are en- 
 titled to free entry. Foreign books of record are 
 certified only as the associations controlling them 
 may be affiliated with American associations, ex- 
 cept in cases where a recognized foreign breed 
 may have no book of record in the United States, 
 in which case the foreign book is certified direct. 
 It follows, of course, that in practically all cases 
 only animals registered in American books can be 
 imported free. The Department requires certi- 
 fied American associations to submit annual re- 
 ports, and this office examines their books when 
 necessary. The certification of the Secretary of 
 Agriculture adds considerable prestige to an asso- 
 ciation doing business in this country, and two 
 
States have past laws requiring stallions standing 
 as purebred to be registered in a studbook so cer- 
 tified. 
 
 POULTRY INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 Rob R. Slocum, Poultry Assistant. 
 
 The poultry work is one of the newer fields of 
 investigation of the Animal Husbandry Office, 
 having been undertaken during the summer of 
 1906. Experiments are under way at the quar- 
 antine station of the Bureau, near Baltimore, Md., 
 to study the relative value or the moist-mash and 
 dry-mash systems of feeding, and feeding with 
 and without self-feeding hoppers. The experi- 
 ments will be repeated with the hope of obtaining 
 more definite results. Chicks will be hatched 
 from the eggs laid by the hens used in the experi- 
 ment, and observations will be made of the effects 
 on vitality of the different systems of feeding. 
 
 HOG INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 L. R. Davies, Scientific Assistant. 
 
 The investigations of the office in hog husbandry 
 thus far embrace a comprehensive study of the 
 effects of cotton seed and cotton-seed meal. The 
 work is being done in collaboration with the Path- 
 ological and Biochemic Divisions of the Bureau, 
 and is designed to study the subject from the stand- 
 point of the practical stockman, the veterinarian, 
 and the chemist. The immediate objects in view 
 are: The effect of different systems of feeding on 
 the dangerous character of a cotton-seed meal ra- 
 tion, the symptoms and post-mortem characteris- 
 tics of cotton-seed poisoning, and the cause of this 
 
8 
 
 poisoning. If the Bureau succeeds in discovering 
 the cause of the poisoning, efforts will be made to 
 find a method whereb}' cotton-seed meal may be 
 fed with safety. The importance of these results 
 to all farmers who feed hogs, but to southern farm- 
 ers especially, is apparent. Cotton-seed meal has 
 been found to be a very valuable nitrogenous 
 supplement to corn, but as a rule it can not be 
 fed safely for any great length of time, except 
 in very small amounts and with an abundance of 
 green feed in addition. 
 
 COOPERATIVE WORK, 
 
 ANIMAL NUTRITION INVESTIGATIONS. 
 H. P. Armsby, in charge. 
 
 Investigations in animal nutrition were under- 
 taken some time before the Bureau began any 
 other investigations in animal husbandry. A 
 respiration calorimeter was constructed along the 
 lines of the Atwater-Rosa apparatus for the study 
 of human nutrition at the Wesleyan University, 
 Middletown, Conn. The calorimeter is an elaborate 
 instrument, enabling the operator to place a steer 
 in confinement and make accurate measurements 
 of the amount of feed actually assimilated. It 
 also permits measurements of the air used in 
 respiration and the effects of work on digestion. 
 Results on the available energy of timothy hay 
 and of corn and wheat meals have been published, 
 and others are in preparation. These investiga- 
 tions are of great importance to stock feeders, 
 giving accurate scientific data on the processes of 
 digestion and the digestibility of different feeds. 
 
This work is done in cooperation with the Penn- 
 sylvania Experiment Station at State College, Pa. 
 
 BEEF PRODUCTION IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 D. T. Gray, in charge. 
 
 The production of beef cattle in the South is one 
 of the most pressing problems in animal husbandry 
 of that section. Few localities have better oppor- 
 tunities for beef production than many of the 
 Southern States. This office is cooperating with 
 the Alabama Experiment Station along this line. 
 Two steer-feeding experiments have been con- 
 ducted, and this work will be continued. The 
 office is cooperating, thru the station, with a large 
 stock farmer in the Tennessee Valley, who has 
 been grading up a beef herd from native stock 
 with purebred beef bulls. Careful notes are being 
 kept of his work with a view to publication to 
 show how far such operations may be carried on 
 economically in the South. 
 
 HORSE BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 
 COLORADO WORK. 
 W. L. Carlyle, in charge. 
 The horse-breeding work in Colorado is being 
 done in cooperation with the Colorado Experi- 
 ment Station at Fort Collins, and is designed to 
 develop an American carriage horse from native 
 material. It is well known that the majority of 
 carriage horses on American markets and in our 
 horse shows are trotting bred, but no serious 
 attempt has been made to develop a breed from 
 the stock producing these horses. Furthermore, 
 it is a common practise to castrate standard-bred 
 
10 
 
 stallions of carriage type, dock them, and convert 
 them into carriage horses. With the above-men- 
 tioned object in view, a small stud has been estab- 
 lished, all the animals being trotting bred. They 
 were selected for their conformity to the carriage 
 type, and a number of them have been shown in 
 the large horse shows of the country. The stud is 
 headed by the stallion Cannon 32917, American 
 Trotting Register — he was shown by Mr. Thomas 
 W. Lawson under the name of " Glorious Thun- 
 dercloud." The objects of this work are to con- 
 centrate the standard-bred blood which produces 
 carriage horses, to give American farmers an object 
 lesson how they may use standard-bred sires to 
 better advantage, and to raise the standard of our 
 light-horse stock. Rigid selection will be followed. 
 
 VERMONT WORK. 
 W. F. Hammond, in charge. 
 
 The horse-breeding work in Vermont is being 
 done in cooperation with the Vermont Experi- 
 ment Station at Burlington, using horses of Morgan 
 breeding and of the Morgan type, but with more 
 size than the old Morgan possest. The Morgan 
 horse is in considerable danger of being bred out 
 of existence, owing to the desire for extreme 
 speed at the expense of more desirable qualities 
 and on account of attempts to obtain increased 
 size without judicious selections of sires. Thus 
 far only mares have been purchased, nearly all of 
 which were obtained in Vermont, two being 
 bought in Kentucky. A stallion will be added to 
 
11 
 
 the stud. The Bureau was very fortunate in 
 securing not only animals of good Morgan type 
 with considerable size, but of excellent Morgan 
 breeding as well. The objects of this work are 
 the retention of the Morgan type with size enough 
 to conform to market demands and the preserva- 
 tion of the Morgan blood. Kigid selection will be 
 practised and judicious feeding and careful mating 
 relied upon to reach the de&ired ends. 
 
 POULTRY BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 
 Gilbert M. Go well, in charge. 
 
 Poultry experiments are conducted in coopera- 
 tion with the Maine Experiment Station at Orono, 
 and comprize investigations to increase the egg- 
 laying capacity of the hens and to study the 
 amount of floor space required to keep them in 
 health. Each hen is numbered and provided with 
 a leg band on which the number is stamped, trap 
 nests being used, so that an accurate record may 
 be kept of the eggs laid by each hen. These in- 
 vestigations were begun independently by the 
 Maine Experiment Station, but for the last two 
 years have been in cooperation with this Bureau. 
 The stock used is Barred Plymouth Rock, which 
 has been kept pure at the University of Maine for 
 twenty-five years. Already several hens have 
 been found to lay more than two hundred eggs 
 in one year, and the results seem to indicate that 
 the average egg yield of a flock can be increased 
 by selection. The value to poultrymen of such an 
 increase is too apparent to need further mention. 
 
12 
 
 SHEEP BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 
 George E. Morton, in charge. 
 
 One of the most important problems confront- 
 ing stockbreeders of the United States at present 
 is the development of a breed of sheep suitable 
 to range conditions. In spite of the great devel- 
 opment and prosperity of the sheep industry of 
 the West, breeding methods are not systematic, 
 and most breeders are continually crossing, the 
 result being a lack of uniformity in the stock and, 
 to a certain extent, a failure to attain as high a 
 standard as might otherwise be possible. The 
 requirement of the range is a breed of sheep that 
 will yield a profitable clip of wool, produce good 
 mutton lambs, and that will stand flocking in 
 large numbers. It is believed possible to combine 
 these characteristics in one breed of sheep, and 
 the assistant animal husbandman and Mr. Morton 
 are now in the range country selecting ewes and 
 rams conforming as nearly as possible to the de- 
 sired type. 
 
 These sheep will be run on a range near Lara- 
 mie, Wyoming, and the same methods will be 
 followed as in other breeding projects of this office, 
 namely, close selection of progeny to type and 
 rigid culling. 
 
 TURKEY BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 Leon J. Cole, in charge. 
 
 The turkey-breeding investigations have been 
 designed to study the origin and prevention, 
 by sanitation or by breeding, of the disease in- 
 fectious entero-hepatitis, commonly known as 
 
13 
 
 "black head," which is a serious drawback to 
 the turkey industry of the East. It is not defi- 
 nitely known how the infection is communicated 
 to turkeys, and the experiments are planned to 
 discover this, if possible. Methods of prevention 
 will naturally follow, and considerable attemion 
 is being paid to the possibility of breeding stock 
 immune to the disease. This work is being done 
 in cooperation with the Rhode Island Experiment 
 Station at Kingston. 
 
 ZEBRA HYBRID INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 The experiment in breeding zebra hybrids is be- 
 ing conducted in collaboration with the Experiment 
 Station of the Bureau and in cooperation with the 
 Maryland Experiment Station at College Park. 
 It is intended to breed the large Grevy zebra, pre- 
 sented to the President by Emperor Menelik, of 
 Abyssinia, to a number of good farm mares weigh- 
 ing from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, the object of the 
 work being to ascertain what commercial value 
 the resulting hybrids possess. It will, of course, 
 be necessary to obtain female zebras soon in order 
 to maintain the zebra stock. 
 
 Geo. M. Rommel, 
 
 Animal Husbandman. 
 Approved : 
 
 A. D. Mblvin, 
 
 Chief of Bureau. 
 Washington, D. C, October 31, 1906. 
 
 
 
/ 
 
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 
 
 3 1262 
 
 08925 9757