AS FOOD FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP. 333 



■ewes were fed under our directions according to this system 

 with unqualified success. So long as they were at large upon 

 the pastures — which were unusually bare — tliey got a small 

 daily allowance of pulped turnips and cut straw mixed. They 

 partook of it readily, and, indeed, soon came to wait for it when 

 the time for giving it approached. Cut hay was used for a few 

 days at first until they became fond of it, and cut straw was by 

 degrees substituted, it being found of great importance to cut 

 the fodder into as short lengths as possible. On the 1st of 

 February, or thereby, they were folded on the turnip field, and 

 the hand-pulper which was used was removed there also. They 

 w^ere fed for nearly two months thereafter upon nothing but a 

 mixture of pulped swedes and cut straw in the proportions 

 specified above, and they throve admirably upon this diet. 

 Indeed they were in as high condition at lambing time as it is 

 desirable to have ewes of the class at that time, and decidedlv 

 fatter than part of the same lot which had been folded for a 

 couple of months upon turnips alone. There was not a single 

 case of abortion, and while the casualties were few, none of 

 them were in any degree traceable to the special system of 

 feeding adopted. The lambs were strong and plump wlien 

 dropped, and they and their mothers throve subsequently as 

 well as could be desired. There were no complaints of the 

 pulper being heavy to drive. Our experience of the system, 

 though comparatively limited as to the number of ewes fed 

 according to it, was sufficient to convince us not only of its 

 practicability, but also of its marked economy in roots, and of 

 its adaptability for keeping lambing ewes in a liealthy state, 

 and in Ljood condition otherwise. 



Illustrative Fxamplcs. 



"Let us now proceed to show by illustrative cases how the 

 system we have advocated of feeding sheep upon a restricted 

 (quantity of turnips along with cut .straw or liay is more 

 economical from every point of view than tlie metliod of giving 

 them notliing but turnips. AVe may explain that our cal- 

 culations are based on the assumption that half-bred lambs will 

 eat, when fed upon swedes alone, about -0 lbs. each daily, ur 

 140 lbs. weekly. We fix the price of tliis weekly consumpt 

 at 6d., which is equivalent to a small fraction under 5d. per cwt. 

 for the turni{)S. We charge oat straw at lid. per imperial stone 

 of 14 lbs., and this is ecjual to £1, Os. 8d. per ton. 



Now let us take two plots, measuring 1 acre each, in a turnip 

 field where the crop has been found to weigh 25 tons per acre. 

 We presume the turnips to be pitted on both so that the expense 

 on each has been the same up to this stage. Let there be folded 



