174 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



FATTENING LAMBS.— A COMPARISON OF FODDERS. 



BY HERBERT W. MUMFORD. 



Bulletin No. 136. — Farm Department. 



SUMMARY. 



1. Lambs cau be profitably fattened without clover hay. 



2. Under the conditions existing- in this experiment a pound of gain 

 was most economically produced where a ration of corn, roots and 

 corn stalks was fed. With this ration a pound of gain cost 3.58 

 cents. The average cost of a pound of gain in all the lots Avas 

 4.53 cents. The cost of a pound of gain was the least where corn 

 stjxlks was the fodder ration, and greatest where millet hay was the 

 fodder i-ation. 



3. The number of pounds of dry matter required to produce a 

 pound of gain w^as least Avhere corn stalks and clover hay was the fod- 

 der ration, and greatest w^here millet hay was the fodder ration. 



4. Since the buying and selling prices are important factors of the 

 profit and loss account, it w^ould be well to note that the lambs used 

 in this experiment were purchased at 2.37 cents per pound, and sold 

 at 4.6 cents per pound. 



5. From the standpoint of the dry matter required to produce a 

 pound of gain, the results go to show^ that where clover hay was fed 

 trith some other fodder it required less pounds of dry matter to produce 

 a pound of gain than where the other fodder was fed alone. This 

 advantage is not attributed to the clover hay but to the variety in the 

 ration, for by referring to Table III it will be noticed that it required 

 less pounds of dry matter to produce a pound of gain w^here corn 

 stalks and alfalfa Avere fed alone than it did where clover hay w^as fed 

 alone; and again, it took fcAv^er pounds of dry matter to produce a 

 pound of gain with clover hay and corn stalks than it did with either 

 alone as the fodder ration. 



0. To show that all the lambs were w^ell fattened the following letter 

 from the commission firm in East Buffalo, Avho sold the lambs for the 

 Liansing parties who purchased them of the Station might Ife of 

 interest: 



" East Buffalo, Feh'y li>, 18i)6. 

 *• Jones and Brumm, Lansing, 3Iich.: 



"Messrs— The only fault with this lot of lambs is that they are 



too heavy. It has been almost impossible to sell heavy lambs ; several 



loads of good ones have been lying around here for a w^eek unsold. 



This lot of yours sold fully one-fourth higher than the same kind and 



