250 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



of the food, "it is not material wliether all cake be used with roots and 

 chaff, or whether the cake be in large measure replaced by wheat and 

 barley. . . 



"Another point brought out by the experiment is that the feeding of 

 bullocks under the conditions of prices ruling for food and for meat, as 

 set out ill the experiment, is not profitable, and were it not for the 

 manure jiroduced would practically result in loss." 



Experimenis with sheep. — Sixty Hampshire Down sheep with a slight 

 trace of "Oxford" were purchased August 24, 1894, for $9.87 per head. 

 The exi^eriment was begun December 13, after a i)reliminary period 

 on grass and later on turnips to accustom them to root feeding. The 

 sheep Avere then considered worth 110.50 per head. They were divided 

 into 3 lots of 20 animals each. Lot 1 was fed 0.5 lb. linseed cake, lot 2 

 0.25 lb. linseed cake and 0.25 lb. whole wheat, and lot 3 0.25 lb. linseed 

 cake and 0.25 lb. whole barley per animal daily. In addition all received 

 hay chaff and roots ad libitum; at first mangels, then i^art Swedes, and 

 finally all Swedes. From January 6, 1895, to February 17 the cake fed 

 lotl was increased to 0.75 lb., and from January 6 to January 24 the 

 grain fed to lots 2 and 3 was increased to 0.5 lb. The sheep did not do 

 well, and the ration was changed so that each animal received | lb. of 

 cake and the same amount of grain. From February 17 until the close 

 of the experiment the cake fed lot 1 was increased to 1 lb. and the cake 

 and grain fed to lots 2 and 3 were each increased to 0.5 lb. It was 

 found that the sheep consumed i)er head daily from 18 to 20 lbs. of roots 

 and 0.5 lb. of hay chaff. One sheei) in lot 1 died and 1 in lot 3 was sick 

 and was dropped from the experiment. 



The financial statement is based on the same values as in the exi^eri- 

 ment with steers, except in the case of grain. Since it was fed unground, 

 wheat is taken at $21.05 and barley at $24.25 per ton. The composi- 

 tion of the food was determined from the analyses referred to in the 

 experiments with steers. 



On February 26 10 sheep from each lot, and on March 4 the remainder, 

 were made to fast for one day, then weighed, and sold for slaughtering 

 at 19 cts. i)er pound. The dressed weight was also taken. 



The average weight at the beginning, cost of food, gain in weight, 

 and profit per head are given in the following table. 



liesuUs of sheep-feeding experiments. 



Lot 1 (linseed cake) 



Lot 2 (linseed cake and wheat) 

 Lot 3 (linseed cake and barley) 



Ratio of 

 dressed 

 weight to 

 live weight 

 (fasting). 



Per cent. 

 53.4 

 52.6 

 53.4 



