SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. g89 



stock. There is absolutely no danger of this unless there is too much of 

 it fed. If cattle are fed continuously on cottonseed-meal and get too much 

 of it, then some of them are likely to die but this is clearly attributable 

 to feeding too much of the meal continuously. If it is fed properly with 

 corn to sheep or cattle I do not think that there is the least danger con- 

 nected with its use. Of course it is an exceedingly rich food, about the 

 richest in protein that is available, and consequently if fed heavily alone 

 it is going to produce injurious results. 



FEED FOR EWES WITH LAMBS. 



J. Hal Woodford, Bourbon County, Kentucky, in Breeders' Gazette. 



H. C, Mt. Pleasant, Term., writes: "What is the best feed for ewes with 

 young lambs? The lambs are not old enough to eat. We depend on wheat 

 fields for winter pasture but this year the wheat fields are covered with 

 snow and ice and grazing is not good. I have 150 ewtes and 100 lambs 

 from a month to a day old. I am feeding one feed of sorghum silage and 

 100 pounds of cottonseed-meal a day and one feed of ground barley. 

 Could I feed anything that would make the ewes give more milk or that is 

 cheaper? How much meal should I feed and how much ground barley? 

 Will have to feed until April 1." 



The sheep is a very delicately organized animal, its stomach in its 

 entirety, being the most wonderful organ conceivable. In its ration the 

 desideratum is to get the proper nourishment in the bulkiest form eccept- 

 able to the animal. The stronger and more concentrated the food the 

 greater it seems to appeal to their taste. 



The great density of your correspondent's ration would be my chief 

 objection, admitting, however, that I never fed cottonseed-meal, nor , is 

 if ever fed to sheep in our locality. However, two-thirds of a pound per 

 day to be continued until April 1. in addition to feed of barley, another 

 ■\ery rich food, seems a very badly balanced ration. Our ewes began 

 lambing Feb. 1 and since have never been out of the shed — eomething 

 very tinusual in this latitude — fart v;e have not lest a single ewe this 

 winter, nor lamb except the first pair dropped before we expected thfem. 



We feed I14 pounds of ground oats and % pound of ground corn (I 

 believe barley or rye jtst as good), and then all the good souind clover 

 hay they will clean up. Timothy hay is a slow death but nevertheless a 

 sure one if the only roughness fed, as it is very constipating. They should 

 have access to pure water and salt, as a sheep will drink a greater per 

 cent of water in proportion to weight than any other animal. 



Unless the weather is very inclement turn the sheep out in the pasture 

 whure they can dig and pav/ the snew for grass or roots of grass, it 

 freshens them up and they will come back to shed bright and hungry. 

 Wheat is not luxuriant enough for winter pasture except say one year 



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