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EXTENSION WORK
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LIVE STOCK WORK AT THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE




Gentlemen of the Live Stock Round-Up:


.It is not necessary for me to express my pleasure


at being on the platform before you. All of you know


me so well that you know I am always pleased when I can


do or say something that will advance the interests of


the live stock industry of Florida. The value of the


live stock interests to the State of Florida cannot be


over estimated, it is in fact the foundation of the


prosperity .of every agricultural community on the country.


This has been recognized for a long time but it has likewise

taken the people of the United States a long time to feel


the need of systematic an.< thorough investigations in


t.e live stock: line. In this direction we are making


more progress now in a single year than we did formerly


in ten years, The many excellent papers and reports
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that you have heard during this meeting would have been


considered an epoch-making program if it could have oc-


curred 10 or 15 years ago. Of course that would have


been impossible, since many of the scientific truths ut-


tered in this meeting have been accumulated within less


than a decade. This is one thing that makes the Live

Stock Round-Up Oo attractive to the active stockmen of


the State. It has given us a clearing house where we


not only hear the best and latest truths in connection with


our live stock interests, but also get the practical ex-


perience of the people who are trying to carry out this


work in practice on their farms.


The Florida Agricultural College has long recognized


live stock growing as of fundamental importance and the


subject has been one of the principal courses of instruc-


tion in the curriculum. The curriculum has been strength-








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ened just as rapidly as the financial condition of the


state would permit.


Work of the College


The live stock work at the Agricultural college


is a great deal more extensive than most people understand.


It really requires a comprehensive view of the whole situa-


tion to understand how much the Agricultural College is


doing for the live stock interests of the State.


The live stock work divides itself naturally into


three general groups: the first of these groups that I will


discuss is the teaching group; the second is the Experiment


Station group; and third, the Extension group.


At first sight it would seem as though there was an


unnecessary division of work, but the professor who teaches


his classes must meet them regularly every day in the week


at an appointed hour. The classes are so large in some of


the lines that they must be divided into sections in order


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that the best instruction may be given. You can readily see


that a professor doing a full man's service to the students


would find it absolutely impossible to, at the same time,


successfully conduct intricate experiments in the laboratory


or on the farm, and at the same time answer an unceasing num -


ber of inquiries on the most recent discoveries in connection


with the live stock work.


The second group of live stock workers that we have


at the Agricultural College give their en4ee attention to


the carrying on of experiments and the discovery of new truths


in connection with the feeding and rearing of live stock.


This requires the closest and most careful attention to de-


tails. It is necessary not only to know what has been done


in the South, but also in the country at large, as well as


what is being done in foreign countries, no matter how remote.


The third group of workers gives their attention to


Extension Work in live stock. They are not confined to the


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University Campus by either teaching work or by the exact


details of the Experiment Station work and can move freely


over the State to help the stockmen in whatever locality


help may be needed.


The Teaching Division


The leader of the teaching division in animal hus-


bandry at the University, is Prof. C. H. Willoughby, who has


been with us for a long number of years and has carried many


students through the various classes.


There are 13 different courses in animal husbandry@4AW


This gives you a fair idea of the lar-e range of selection


that students of animal husbandry can make. These courses,


of course, are not closed to other students, but in some of


the classes the attendance is so large that it has to be

broken into sections. It is rarely satisfactory to have

more than 25 students in a section.







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Last year we added a new department in the animal


husbandry line in the matter of Veterinary Science. The


courses have been much appreciated by the students and we


find a large number classifying for this work. The depart-


ment is under the able leadership of Dr. A. L. Shealey.


Veterinary Science will undoubtedly become one of the most


popular courses at the institution when the State can afford


to sup. ly an equipment commensurate with the importance of


the work.


A third department, that of Joultry Husbandyy, in


charge of Dr. N. W. Sanborn, has been added this year. Un-


fortunately the State has not felt able to supply sufficient


funds to carry this course throughout the entire year; we


have therefore to give the poultry husb ndry course only dur-


ing half the year. During the other half year, Dr. Sanborn


gives his ed time to the Extension Work, and the teaching







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of classes throughout various localities in the State.


Experiment Station Division


The animal husbandry work in the Experiment Station


has been carried on since the establishment of the institution


A large amount of most excellent work has been done for the


State of Florida. There are very few of my hearers but


what have profited by the results of these experiments. To


give even a cursory review of all that has been done in the


last 30 years would occupy more time than has been allotted


to me on this program. fIt is fortunate for you, however,


that the time has been limited otherwise I should probably


over step even reasonable bounds in discussing the work that


has been done)I I will however take up a few of the things


that may prove of most interest to you today.


One very interesting experiment was completed in 1903


when 26 head of pure bred shorthiorn cattle, introduced from


Kentucky, were tA:Lken to the Experiment Station and treated


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with the blood from native cattle, under the direction of


Dr. Dawson. This was done in the attempt to immunize pure


bred animals from so-called Texas fever; as the protozoa


which causes the fever is constantly present in the blood of


our tick infested animals, it was only necessary to get the


blood from such animals. Of the 26 animals treated, 25 head


were fortified against the disease.


We have now made so much advance in the handling of


Texas fever that it is not considered a profitable undertaking


to bring cattle in and attempt to immunize them in this way,


but you must remember, gentlemen, that there was a time when


this knoitledge had to be obtained. The right way to handle


Texas fever is to eradicate it by killing the tick.


A certain very interesting experiment that I wish to


call to your attention today, .as that carried on by Prof.


Scott in breeding native cattle to a native bull in'compari-


son with breeding an equal number of similar cattle to a


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... *-9-



Shorthorn bull and to a Hereford bull.


Naturally when experiments of any kind are begun, no


one can foretell what the results will be, otherwise it would


not be an experiment. Nevertheless everyone has his opinion


as to what the results of an experiment..will be. It was


freely predicted that the calves at birth from the Shorthorn


and Hereford bulls would be distinctly larger than the calves


by the native bull, and at the end of a year it was expected


that these would show very decided advantages in growth over


the natives and at the end of three years we rather expected


that there would be a'very large difference. Ih carrying on


this work the animals were properly selected, and the cows


and calves properly cared for, and weighing made at regular


intervals. You can imagine, therefore, what our surprise was


when at the end of the experiment we found that the full

blooded native animals compared very favorably in size and







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slaughtering test with the half-breeds, and that all of the


animals, both native and half-breeds, at the end of the


three year period showed an extremely fine growth. The


basic truth brought out by this experiment was that the big-


ness in the native cattle had not been entirely bred out. In


other words, the grade animals were distinctly finer animals


when taken from the butchering standpoint, but the native


cows were capable of producing fair sized progeny, if the


progeny was given a reasonably good chance. The complete


report of this experiment will be found in the Experiment


Station's annual report for 1912, also in bulletin 110,


which, unfortunately, is out of print.


One of the most important pieces of work done by the


Experiment Station has been the utilizing of cassava, sweet


potatoes, velvet beans, cocoanut meal and peanut meal as

feed for live stock. To the average stockman it seems like


quite a small matter to determine the relative feeding values


C












of different materials on the market or present on the farm.


However, when you take into consideration that in the case


of velvet beans there was no other place in the world where


investigations were being made, you will realize that this


had to be carried on single handed, by the Florida Experiment


Station. Hot even could Ine find the chemical analysis of


the velvet bean as to its ash content, much less would one


be able to find the analysis of the valvet bean that would


give any idea as to its feeding value. Even after these


chemical analyses had been made it was still necessary to


find out the amount of the velvet bean material that was ac-


tually digested by the animals. This digestivvexperiment


was carried on in a very thorough manner and has been very gen


erally accepted as accurate by the stockmen of the country.


The work was done in 1901. Later tests had to be made to


work out the relative values between the use of velvet beans


and other standard feeds such as bran,ap4ttonseed meal.


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It is not unusual for long continued experiments of this


kind to be summarized in a single press bulletin. Such a


press bulletin, however, is very different from the ordinary


prepared article, where you can get your data from previous-


ly printed information.


Another very interesting piece of work that has been


done is that of making silage of cassava and sweet potatoes,


as well as testing out the feeding value of cocoanut meal


and peanut meal.


All of this work in the Experiment Station that I have


been outlining to you has had to be carried on in the face of


very limited means. One of the Northwestern States in pre-


paring a prize-winniw,, -ateer4, spent more money in the prep-


aration of this one animal than we spent in an entire year


on our whole herd.


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Extension Division


The live stock extension project which we are carry-

ing on this year, is headed by Prof. Scott, ably assisted by

W. H. Lack and J. B. Thompson. This live stock project


has for its object the carrying of information obtained by

the Experiment Station, and the information contained in

bulletins and other publications from the United Stated De-

partment of Agriculture, all over the State.





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