FARM ANIMALS 249 



gain in lambs is from fifty to sixty per cent, greater 

 when they receive a half-pound of oats, barley or 

 some other similar grain than where no grain is 

 fed. The additional increase made by the use 

 of grain is worth much more than the cost of the 

 grain used in obtaining it and is, therefore, to be 

 recommended from a financial standpoint. The 

 use of cultivated pastures of the sort above de- 

 scribed is to be highly commended, since if sheep 

 are kept on native pasture or prairie grass or other 

 less nutritious grass the increase in weight is 

 liable to be seriously checked as soon as the grass 

 becomes dry in the fall. In the range region 

 proper the native grasses are more nutritious when 

 dried up in the fall than are some of the more 

 recently introduced species of grass. The growth 

 of sheep, however, is not satisfactory on such ' 

 pasture without grain. In a comparison of various 

 grains fed to sheep on pasture, the grains stood in 

 the following order in the economy of mutton pro- 

 duction; whole corn, corn and bran, whole mac- 

 aroni wheat, whole hard wheat, ground macaroni 

 wheat and bran, whole emmer and ground emmer. 

 With regard to the amount of grain which it is 

 desirable to feed to sheep, it should be remembered 

 that only a light grain ration is necessary to pro- 

 duce an excellent finish in lambs when legumes are 

 available. For example it has been found that 

 one-half to three-quarters of a pound of grain per 

 head per day is sufficient to put a fine market 

 finish on sheep fed during a period of seventy to 

 ninety days with plenty of alfalfa or clover pasture. 

 The grain ration, however, even when legumes are 

 fed as roughage should be maintained throughout 

 the whole feeding period rather than toward the 

 latter half of this period. 



