580 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



value of the feed, and to leave bluegrass, clover, or timothy pasture for 

 later use. When pasturage is deficient in the fall or the grass soft and 

 washy, it is well to provide supplemental feed before the ewes are taken 

 off pasture. This may be hay, grain, or better, such grazing crops as 

 rape or fall rye. 



For the greatest economy the winter feed of the ewes should consist 

 largely of roughages, hay from the legumes easily leading. (857) In- 

 deed, when the ewes go into the winter in good condition and are fed 

 plenty of choice legume hay along with an allowance of roots or silage, 

 no grain is needed until 4 to 6 weeks before lambing time. The aim 

 should be to bring the ewes to lambing in medium flesh and vigorous 

 condition, thus insuring a good milk flow for the new-born lambs. The 

 trained shepherd knows that the only safe way to determine the condi- 

 tion of a sheep is by "handling" its back. If he finds that the ewes 

 are not thriving, he will add concentrates to their ration. With an 

 ample supply of good roughage, not over 0.5 Ib. a head daily of concen- 

 trates is needed. While breeding ewes should not be fat, they should 

 carry more flesh than most American farmers think proper. To winter 

 them on only straw, or straw and hay, is to perpetuate a flock that will 

 gradually but surely deteriorate. 



Both ram and ewe lambs intended for the breeding flock should re- 

 ceive liberal rations of muscle-building foods during the first winter to 

 insure steady growth, but they should never receive a fattening ration. 

 Within the limits set by heredity, the size and vigor lambs will attain 

 when mature depend very largely upon the development the first year. 



833. Concentrates for ewes. Not only the amount of concentrates re- 

 quired for breeding ewes but also the kind which should be supplied will 

 depend upon the sort of roughages fed. When the ewes are fed plenty 

 of good legume hay, which is rich in protein and lime, they will need 

 less concentrates than when inferior roughage is used. Moreover, the 

 concentrates fed may then be chiefly or entirely the farm grown grains, 

 such as oats, corn, barley, kafir, or milo. 



Whole oats are highly esteemed as a feed for ewes, while corn is con- 

 sidered too fattening by many shepherds to be used as the chief concen- 

 trate. However, when plenty of protein is furnished by legume hay or 

 other protein- rich feeds and the ewes are not over-fed on corn so that 

 they become unduly fat, corn is a satisfactory feed. 



For example, in a trial at the Wisconsin Station 4 by Carlyle and 

 Kleinhemz with ewes chiefly of the mutton breeds and ranging from 

 138 to 157 Ibs. in weight, whole oats, wheat bran, shelled corn, or dried 

 brewers' grains were compared, when fed as the only concentrate. 

 Each ewe received half a pound of concentrates daily with 2 Ibs. of clover 

 and timothy hay and 2.5 Ibs. corn silage. All rations proved satisfactory, 

 these large ewes gaining steadily on half a pound of concentrates. The 

 results from a fifth lot, fed a mixture of corn, bran, and oats, were not 



4 Wis. Rpt. 1903. 



