THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT RATIONS ON 

 FATTENING LAMBS. 



THESE experiments were, in the main, a continuation of those 

 carried on at this station one year ago, and reported in Bulle- 

 tin No. II, and very nearly the same foods were used, none of 

 them being out of the reach of the general mass of farmers. 



GENERAL PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENT. 



The period of feeding lasted five full months, from November 

 25th, 1888, to April 25th, 1889. The lambs, twelve in number, 

 were selected from a lot that had been picked up in the surround- 

 ing country for shipment. They were coarse wool grades, Shrop- 

 shire or Southdown, dropped late the previous spring, and had 

 evidently been scantily fed during the summer. The}' were not 

 such animals as would have been selected to give the best finan- 

 cial results, but being thin in flesh and fairly uniform, were well 

 adapted to the purposes of the experiment. The twelve were 

 closely shorn, and then divided into four lots of three each, in such 

 a manner as to have as nearly as possible an equal weight in each 

 lot. Three lambs were used in each lot, so that if for any reason 

 there should be an accident to one there might be two left at the 

 end, from which to gather data in regard to the effects of the 

 rations. 



The lots were numbered respectively III, IV, V and VI, and 

 each lamb was labeled with a .separate numbered ear tag, .so that 

 data in regard to increase in weight, etc., could be collected indi- 

 vidually and by lots. 



The experiment progres.sed satisfactorilj' from beginning to end, 

 with but two exceptions. Lamb No. 12, in lot III, made scarcely 

 an}' growth from beginning to end, as shown by the weekly weigh- 

 ings. Eamb No. 18, in lot IV, grew and thrived as well as any 

 until about February 1st, when it began to lose weight, though 

 not noticeably ailing. About March it became sick, refused to 

 eat, and was doctored for costiveness, but continued to grow worse, 

 and died March 13. A post mortem examination showed that 

 death was caused by a stone in the bladder. For the.se rea.sons all 

 the figures and computations are based upon the two heaviest 

 lambs in each lot. 



