Experiments in Fattening Sheep. 



473 



767. Grazing sheep on annual pastures. Keeping sheep chiefly 

 on pastures specially sown for them was first practiced in America at 

 the Minnesota Station 1 in 1895 by Shaw, who writes thus of this 

 system : "It enables the flockmaster to maintain a much larger num- 

 ber of animals than he otherwise could. It makes it possible for 

 him to give them more or less of succulent pasture from spring till 

 fall, which is favorable to their development. It enables him to de- 

 stroy cheaply and effectively nearly all kinds of weeds and to fer- 

 tilize his land so that it will be in a good condition to grow other 

 crops. ' ' 



In one trial Shaw grazed 2 lots, each of ten 80-lb. yearling wethers, 

 for 112 days by means of hurdles on the following succession of pas- 

 tures: Winter rye, peas and oats, barley and oats, rape, kale, peas 

 and oats. Lot II received 0.5 Ib. of oats per head daily in addition 

 to pasture. The results of the trial are given below: 



Grazing yearling wethers on special crops with and without grain. 



While the gains were not remarkably large with either lot, they 

 were all that could be expected during warm weather. Lot II gained 

 60 per ct. more than Lot I, which received no grain, and was in better 

 condition at the close of the trial. The increase in gain was worth 

 more than the cost of the grain fed. 



768. Sheep fattening in Great Britain. Ingle 2 has coUated all 

 published sheep-feeding trials reported in Britain between the years 

 1844 and 1905, numbering 194. From his extended report the fol- 

 lowing typical examples are drawn to show the rations used by British 

 farmers in fattening sheep and lambs. 



In his review of these feeding trials Ingle observes that: Clover 

 hay proved extremely useful not only because of the nitrogenous 

 matter but also of its high content of lime compared with phosphoric 

 acid. Linseed cake produced a given increase with less than the 

 average amount of feed, and the carcasses dressed above the average. 

 Cotton-cake gave average results. Oats, on the whole, were unsat- 

 isfactory. Barley was satisfactory unless used in large quantity, when 

 it seemed to have an injurious effect on the animals. Whole barley 



Bui. 78. 



2 Trans. Highl. and Agr. Soc. Scotland, 1910. 



