FEEDS FOR SHEEP 553 



ing corn-and-cob meal over feeding ear corn or broken ear corn. One 

 lot of lambs was started on ear corn, changed to broken ear corn as the 

 feeding progressed, and finished on ground corn and broken ear corn; 

 i. e., the preparation of the corn was increased as the lambs fattened. 

 This lot made slightly the largest and most economical gains. 



In a trial by Coffey at the Illinois Station* lambs fed shelled com 

 made slightly larger and more economical gains than others fed ear corn. 

 Both ground corn and corn-and-cob meal proved less efficient than 

 shelled corn or ear corn. Paterson likewise found in a trial at the 

 Kansas Station 5 that lambs fed shelled corn made slightly larger gains 

 than others fed ground corn, and also required less feed for 100 Ibs. 

 gain and produced a slightly larger profit. In the Illinois trial a lot 

 fed a small amount of shelled corn until they had learned to husk shock 

 corn, but thereafter given corn only in the form of shock corn, made 

 smaller gains than any other lot and required 20 per ct. more corn for 

 100 Ibs. gain than the lot fed shelled corn. Coffey points out that both 

 ear corn and shock corn are better suited for feeding on a thick sod than 

 in a dry lot or barn, for they may be scattered on the sod so that each 

 lamb will have an equal chance to feed and little will be wasted. In the 

 lot or barn, lambs are apt to drop the ears on the ground where they be- 

 come soiled, or to bunch them up in the trough so that each lamb does 

 not get its share. 



From these trials we may conclude that it will rarely pay to grind 

 corn for fattening lambs, except perhaps toward the end of the feeding 

 period, when the lambs are fairly fat, or if it is desired to continue feed- 

 ing for some time. Some skilled feeders who study the fine points of 

 the feeding game find it profitable to "keep the feed a little better than 

 the lambs, " by using coarsely ground, corn during the last 30 to 40 

 days of feeding. As a general rule, however, feeding ear corn or shelled 

 corn may be regarded as the most economical. Coarsely ground corn 

 is preferable to fine meal for sheep or lambs. 



Fattening lambs in the corn field, which is a common practice in 

 some localities, is discussed in the next chapter. (904) 



847. Hominy feed. Experiments have been carried on at the Kansas, 

 Indiana, and Iowa Stations 6 to find the relative value of hominy feed and 

 shelled corn for fattening lambs. In addition to either corn or hominy 

 feed the lambs were fed clover or alfalfa hay and corn silage, with a 

 small amount of linseed or cottonseed meal in all except the Kansas trial. 

 Averaging together the results of 4 trials, the lambs fed hominy feed 

 gained 0.318 Ib. per head daily and those fed corn, 0.325 lb. With 

 hominy feed at the same price per ton as well-cured corn, the feed cost of 

 100 Ibs. gain was practically the same on the two feeds. In trials by 



*Productive Sheep Husbandry, pp. 375-6. 

 5 Kan. Cir. 88. 



"Skinner, Vestal, and Starr, Ind. Buls. 221, 234; Eward and Dunn, Iowa Sta- 

 tion, information to the authors ; Paterson, Kan. Cir. 79. 



