224 LIVE STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



ing period is to be long, a little more time should be used 

 in getting the sheep to full feed. The exact amount must 

 be governed by the particular conditions. On long feeds, 

 where pasture is plentiful, it will be most profitable to feed 

 only about half what the animals would take. On short 

 feeds and where pasture is somewhat limited, it is usually 

 advisable to crowd the animals, giving them all they will 

 eat up clean. 



The fattening of lambs is a very profitable branch of sheep 

 husbandry, and lambs are preferred to the older sheep. The 

 favorite on the market is the handy weight lamb, aged about 

 six months and weighing in the neighborhood of 100 pounds. 

 They can be fed on pasture even more profitably than older 

 sheep, for blue-grass, alfalfa or clover supply a high per 

 cent, of protein, which the lambs need more than older sheep 

 do. Bluegrass pasture, however, is dangerous to young 

 lambs if sheep have grazed upon it during the preceding 

 season, for stomach worms and other such parasites are more 

 apt to be gathered up by the lambs when feeding on the 

 short, sweet bluegrass than on any other pasture. In fat- 

 tening lambs in summer, therefore, it is best to depend upon 

 red clover, alfalfa and the more common forage crops; and 

 wherever sufficient sheep are kept to warrant the employ- 

 ment of a regular shepherd the use of hurdles, whereby the 

 lambs may be permitted to run ahead of the ewes, will prove 

 very satisfactory, and will result in increased thrift among 

 the lambs. In pasturing either clover or alfalfa the sheep 

 should not be turned in until the clover or alfalfa is well 

 grown, and then should be turned in when well filled up on 

 other grass, and when the dew or wet is off; and after being 

 so turned in should never be taken off, though a shed may 

 be provided where the sheep may shade at midday. On 

 such pasture with their mothers the lambs will make prodi- 

 gious growth, and when weaning time comes they may be 

 turned into another such field, or if clover or alfalfa be 

 limited, they may be turned on rape, soy beans, or cow peas. 

 Any of these may be sown in a cornfield at the last cultiva- 

 tion, or in oats or barley, and no better feed can be found. 



By the time the youngsters are a month or six weeks old, 

 the ewes should be given a little grain in long feed troughs, 

 where the lambs may get a taste of the feed. As soon as 

 they have developed a taste for grain a separate pen should 

 be provided, with a "creep" through which the lambs may 



