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Show Experiment Farm Completes Phase of Long-Term Feeding Of Beef Cattle on Irrigated Land The sale Monday of 88 head of choice feeder steers marked the end of one phase of a long term experiment involving close co- operation between agriculture, education, and industry in Utah County. The Utah State University Univer-sity Experiment Farm near PI. Grove, established in 1954 under grants from U.S. Steel's Columbia-Geneva Steel Division on land donated by Utah County farmers, has successfully concluded an intensive in-tensive experiment in the use of irrigated pastures to maintain or increase beef production. The 22-acre farm, located on land a short distance from Geneva Gen-eva Works, was originally purchased pur-chased for the purpose of investigating inves-tigating the possible effects of fluorides on dairy cattle. Scientists Scien-tists from Utah State University, with the help of agricultural spec-. spec-. ialists from U. S. Steel and representatives rep-resentatives of the Utah County Fluorine Adjustment Committee, planned the dairy experiment which lasted over four years. The fertility of the soil and productive pro-ductive capacity of the plot was substantially improved during the period. The USU Experiment Farm is operated independently of an 8-acre 8-acre experiment farm unit established estab-lished by U. S. Steel on Geneva Works property. Under the direction direc-tion of L. G. Transtrum, general supervisor of the plant's agriculture agricul-ture department, U. S. Steel's agricultural scientists devoted their time to parallel but separate separ-ate studies of the effeot of fluorides fluor-ides on crops and f arm animals. With the conclusion of the fluoride investigations during the winter of 1957-58, USU agricultural agricul-tural specialists turned to the study of irrigated pasture lands and beef production. According to L. E. Harris, professor of animal an-imal husbandry at Utah State University, who is in charge of the grazing experiments: "Our program -has shown that beef cattle can be grazed on good ir- . rigated land to yield a favorable return compared to dairy or crop production on the same acreage." During a visit to the Experiment Experi-ment Farm, Reed Peterson, representing repre-senting the beef division of the Utah Farmers Committee, commented com-mented that the experiment is a good example of the benefits that can be gained through close cooperation co-operation of the three groups involved. in-volved. Dr. Harris pointed out that detailed de-tailed information describing the experiments and recommendations recommenda-tions for the care of Utah County Coun-ty irrigated pasture land is available avail-able through Utah State University. |