Early Lamb Raising. 175 



Tables YII and YIII give the date of birtli, weight at birth and 

 record of growth of Grade Shropshire and Grade Dorset lambs of 

 1893-4. A considerable larger number of ewes were used in this 

 experiment than in the experiment of the previous year. It will be 

 noticed here also, that so far as the growth of the lambs are con- 

 cerned, the grade Dorsets show a considerable gain over that of the 

 Shropshires. The weight of the lambs at birth of the two lots do 

 not differ materially, yet the average gain per week for the whole 

 time of the Dorsets over that of the Shropshires is considerable, and 

 of great importance, if the highest market prices are to be secured. 

 The ewes of these two lots were of equal age, size and general ap- 

 pearance, also in breeding so far as their appearance would indicate. 

 ^N^early all of these ewes were purchased of a large breeder of merino 

 sheep who disposed of them on account of their advanced age. 



These ewes were of good size, many of them weighing from 90 to 

 110 pounds when in good condition. They were hearty and, as a 

 rule, were able to consume a fairly liberal grain ration. It must be 

 remembered, however, that these sheep had never before been sub- 

 jected to a forced feeding for large milk production, and conse- 

 quently gave a smaller quantity of milk than they would have given 

 had their capacity been developed by liberal feeding calculated to 

 produce this effect for several years previous. 



The question has been asked if corn silage can be substituted for 

 roots in the ration for ewes w^ien winter lambs are the chief object. 

 This question is of considerable importance to every early lamb 

 raiser who practices ensilaging corn for his dairy. If corn silage 

 will take the place of beets or turnips as a food for this class of 

 sheep, considerable expense can be saved where silos are in use, by 

 feeding the silage as a succulent food instead of roots, since a little 

 extra corn can be grown and put in the silo under these conditions, 

 and at a less expense, than the same feeding value of roots can be 

 grown and harvested. 



