176 STATE BOARD OF AGKICULTURE 



INTRODUCTION. 



For several years the supply of clover hay in Michigan has been gradu- 

 ally diminishing on account of the re]>eated dry seasons and the ravages 

 of the insect enemies of the clover plant, necessitating whenever possible 

 the substitution of other fodders in the rations of live stock. Farmers 

 have become at times greatly concerned lest they should be obliged to 

 abandon further attempts to grow clover in ^Michigan. While it has been 

 generally conceded that there is no fodder that can altogether take the 

 place of well cured clover hay in the ration of fattening sheep and lambs, 

 experiments in fattening sheep with but little clover hay or possibly none 

 cannot fail to be timely. 



Those who have had experience in fattening both old sheep and lambs 

 will know that it is much easier to fatten the former than the latter with- 

 out clover hay. Many experienced feeders have gone so far as to say that 

 it is not possible to successfully fatten lambs without clover hay. With 

 these ideas in mind the general plan of the experiments with fattening 

 lambs during the season of 1895 and 1896 was outlined. 



One hundred grade Shropshire lambs were purchased in the vicinity of 

 the Agricultural College. These lambs were very ordinary individuals, 

 no better than the average lambs which can be picked up in almost any 

 section in the. State. They were delivered at the College on or before 

 August 20, 1895. From that time until September 3d, they were kept on 

 an ordinary pasture of mixed grasses. On the third day of September 

 they were turned on a field of rape after being weighed. The field of rape 

 was good during the early part of September but the very dry weather of 

 the latter part of that month and early October furnished just the condi- 

 tions favorable to the growth and reproduction of plant lice which did 

 serious damage to the rape. As a result the gains made were less than 

 those secured from equal areas of rape in previous years at this station 

 and elsewhere. 



One hundred and thirty-five sheep were pastured on the seven measured 

 acres of rape for 8 weeks, during which time they gained an average of 8 

 pounds per head or 1 pound each per w^eek. Heretofore the gains per 

 lamb per week on rape have been from 2 to 3 pounds. As stated before 

 the differences in gain made in different seasons were due most probably 

 almost wholly to the lice on the rape plant. 



GENERAL PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENT. 



The lambs were divided into 10 pens of 10 lambs each. This work was 

 very carefully done, the lambs in each pen being selected so that they 

 w^ould correspond in size and thrift ^ith those in the other pens. 



No effort was made to compound rations with a definite nutritive ratio. 

 One pen was taken as a basis or standard for comparison. This standard 

 pen was fed a ration of corn, roots and clover hay, the ration which has 

 given the best results in previous seasons. As the aim was to determine 

 the relative value of certain of our common fodders for fattening lambs, 

 the nine other pens were fed either alfalfa, millet hay, oat straw, corn 

 stalks or bean straw. Corn was chosen as the grain feed for all the lots. 



