FEEDS FOR SHEEP 571 



portion of supplement should be increased accordingly, so as to provide 

 a well-balanced ration. 



869. Amount of silage to feed. When corn silage was first used for 

 fattening lambs, many believed that better results would be secured if 

 the allowance of silage was limited, instead of allowing the lambs to eat 

 all of the silage they wished. This question was studied in 3 trials by 

 Skinner and King 71 and in 2 trials by Coffey. 72 In each trial one lot of 

 lambs was fed all of the silage they would clean up twice a day in ad- 

 dition either to clover hay and shelled corn, or to clover hay, corn, 

 and cottonseed meal. Another lot was fed the same ration, except that 

 the amount of silage was limited. The largest allowance of silage pro- 

 duced the most rapid, and, with feeds at the usual prices, the cheapest 

 gains. Also it produced just as good or better finish. 



These trials show clearly that it is most profitable to feed fattening 

 lambs all the silage they will eat. However, succulent feed should not 

 ordinarily form the only roughage. The results of 7 trials carried on at 

 the Indiana Station 73 by Skinner, King, Vestal, and Starr show that it 

 is decidedly more profitable to feed legume hay in addition. In each of 

 these trials one lot of lambs was fed corn silage as the only roughage, 

 along with shelled corn and cottonseed meal, while another lot was fed 

 olover hay in addition. In every trial the lambs fed only corn silage 

 for roughage made much smaller gains, had poorer appetites, and re- 

 quired more care to prevent going "off feed." In fact, in most of the 

 trials, it was neccessary to feed a little clover hay at times to get them 

 back on feed. In all but two trials the gains were considerably cheaper 

 when clover hay was fed, and in each trial the profit was greater. Even 

 when the lambs fed corn silage as the only roughage made cheaper gains, 

 this was more than offset by their poorer finish and lower selling price. 



Unlike the results with steers (778), the appetite of lambs for dry 

 roughage was not satisfied by supplying oat straw in addition to silage, 

 even when plenty of protein was furnished by increasing the amount 

 of cottonseed meal. Neither did feeding clover hay only every fifth day 

 prevent the lambs going off feed. We may therefore conclude that it is 

 best to supply legume hay to fattening lambs, in addition to all the 

 silage they will clean up both morning and evening. It is interesting to 

 note that lambs given all the silage they care for will still eat nearly 

 as many pounds of hay as of silage, while on similar feed steers eat 5 to 

 7 times as many pounds of silage as hay. (776) 



870. Silage other than com, Sorghum silage, both from the sweet 

 sorghums and from the grain sorghums, is satisfactory for sheep when 

 made from plants sufficiently mature to produce silage low in acidity. 

 (309) Such silage is of great importance to sheep men in the western 

 semi-arid districts. In a trial by Cochel at the Kansas Station, 74 lambs 



n lnd. Buls. 162, 168, and 179. ra lnd. Buls. 168, 179, 184, 192, 202, 221, and 234. 

 "Information to the authors. "Information to the authors. 



