180 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



fed grain constantly, or as stocker lambs, if they have not been fed 

 continuously. 



THE FEEDING OP FATTENING LAMBS. 



A practice which is becoming more and more common in the 

 corn belt is the finishing of lambs or wethers during the winter 

 months. In most cases the stocker lambs are purchased from the 

 ranges of the west, weighing from 55 to 70 pounds. These are fed 

 for 60 to 90 days and are sold as fat lambs on the market. There 

 are varying methods of feeding to bring about this result. 



A method which is now rather common is to buy these lambs 

 rather early in the fall, run them on grass pastures with a little 

 grain for 30 days, and then gradually put them on a full feed of 

 grain. 



A method which has found much favor in this section is to sow 

 rape and cowpeas in the corn at the last cultivation, and about the 

 first of September turn the lambs in on the corn. The lambs will 

 clean up the under growth and weeds, and the lower blades of corn, 

 but will not for a time injure the corn. Some feeders in Missouri 

 have been able to pasture ten lambs per acre for eight weeks, and 

 have secured a gain of 20 pounds on each lamb, or 200 pounds of 

 mutton per acre, without in any way injuring the corn. 



The most common method of feeding, however, is to put the 

 lambs in feed yards with open sheds for shelter and feed them 

 from 60 to 90 days on a ration of corn and hay. 



The following tables give the results of a large number of ex- 

 periments with different rations for finishing lambs. 



In the tables following, the cost of the various food-stuffs used 

 in the experiments are as follows : 



Corn 



Oats 



Wheat 



Oilmeal. . . 



Bran 



Roots 



Silage 



Clover hay. 



$0.40 per bn. 



.32 per bu. 



. GO per bu. 



$25. 00 per ton. 



14. 00 per ton. 



2.50 per ton. 



2 . 50 per ton 



7. 00 per ton. 



RATIONS FOR FATTENING LAMBS. 



Especial attention is called in each case to the column headed 

 "cost of 1 pound gain in cents," "the average weekly gain in 

 pounds," and the "dry matter for 1 pound of gain in pounds." 

 These columns contain the essential comparisons and indicate 

 which of the rations fed were most efficient. 



