490 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



It is particularly gratifying for the busy farmer to know 

 that the scoop shovel and the edge of the feeding bunks are all 

 the equipment needed in the efficient preparation of corn for 

 fattening lambs. The more elaborate costly methods of prep- 

 aration under the conditions existing at the time these trials 

 were run did not compete successfully with the simple natural 

 ones. 



The profit per lamb is, after all, the final basis for judgment. 

 We find that broken ear corn takes the lead this year with a 

 profit of $1.04, tying only with the bunch of lambs that received 

 whole, broken or ground corn. This lot VI was fed whole and 

 broken corn at the beginning of the period for about a week or 

 so when the corn was entirely changed to whole ear, and then 

 a little later it was all broken, and finally the last month of the 

 experiment some ground corn was fed in addition to the broken, 

 although at no time did the ground corn exceed more than half 

 of the entire corn grain ration. 



Of the straight preparations the ranking would be: First, 

 broken corn; second, whole corn; third, corn and cob meal; 

 fourth, shelled corn, and last, -ground corn. This is on the 

 profit per lamb basis. 



The cost of gains show in favor of the combination of 

 preparations, with corn and cob meal second. One difficulty 

 with the corn and cob meal was, however, that those lambs 

 shrank heavily going to market, thus tending to lower the 

 profits below those lots which made more expensive gains but 

 shrank less en route to the selling place. By simply taking the 

 cost of gains into consideration one cannot determine the merits 

 of a ration. We must go further; in truth, we must go as far as 

 the sheep feeder goes, namely, to the scales that determine the 

 selling weight at the final market place. 



An alfalfa-corn lot was added to this preparation test 

 simply to demonstrate the value of silage and alfalfa vs. alfalfa 

 alone as roughages for fattening lambs. It will be seen under 

 conditions existing at the time this experiment was run that 

 both rations were practically equally efficient at the prices 

 quoted. 



The lamb feeding experience of 1912-13 coincides quite 

 closely with that recently gained. The figures for 1912-13 

 work are given herewith in Table II. 



