FARMERS" INSTITUTES. 105 



EARLY CLIPPING. 



kSlieep or lambs to be fed for the late market should be clipped, the 

 earlier the better, especially our native lambs. P'or in buying you will 

 always get some that have not been dipped and are covered with ticks. 

 Clipping not onl}- gets rid of the ticks, but the lambs will do much better 

 and will need less room. I have weighed lambs before they were cli}>ped 

 and one week afterwards and found they had gained their fleece of six 

 pounds. I am an advocate of 



THE SILO F^OR LAMB FEEDING, 



starting in with ensilage as almost an entire ration and gradually in- 

 creasing on grain to finish them. But I always figure to have my ensilage 

 last till the last feed, as they will eat ensilage in warm weather muck 

 better than dry feed. 



Last season I fed ()23 Montana and Utah lambs that weighed in 5^ 

 pounds, and weighed out 9G ])Ounds, and clipped 6 pounds of wool, or a 

 gain of nearly 40 pounds per head. 



I consider ensilage one of the best feeds for lambs we have on account 

 of its succulence keeping the lambs' digestive organs in shap& to take care 

 of the more concentrated feeds. 



THE RATION 



we are feeding our lambs at present consists of 



Ensilage, 2 pounds; corn, 2-5 pound; last feed at night. 



First feed in morning— Corn and beans, .38 pounds to 60 lambs, or 6-10 pounds to one 

 lamb, and % pound of hay per head, which is changed for a light feed of bean pods twice 

 a week, and a feed of wheat straw at noon. 



I place no value on the straw. This ration figuring corn at 40c de- 

 livered; hay, |5 per ton; ensilage, 50c per ton or what it costs to grow it 

 and put it in the silo; cull beans same price as corn, which only cost me 

 30c per bushel delivered; makes this ration cost me a trifle less than Oc 

 per head per week. 



The lambs I am feeding on this ration are gaining about 2 pounds per 

 head a week, of making a gain on cost of about 3c per pound. We in- 

 creased this feed from ensilage alone gradually to the pi-esent ration. 

 Lambs weighed in 60 pounds on 27th of November; lambs weighed on 

 27th of February 82 pounds, or a gain of 22 pounds in 13 weeks. 



Understand these lambs all had the scab and had to be dipped when the 

 weather was cold, besides being off feed a week or 10 days, which I have 

 already mentioned. 



Last year, besides feeding my 600 western lambs, I fed 4(X) native 

 lambs and with the years of experience I have had in feeding lambs I 

 have been thoroughly convinced that there is 



MORE PROFIT IN FEEDING WESTERN LAMBS 



than our Michigan lambs, w^hich are more or less infected with disease. 

 Besides feeding western lambs this year, I am feeding lambs of my own 

 raising, 85 in number, that averaged 85 pounds per head M'hen they went 

 in barn; averaging 120 pounds last Monday. 



For profitable feeding these lambs should have been turned oif early. 

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