FEEDING SHEEP 369 



therefore, preferable to the heavier ones. It is rarely neces- 

 sary to cut or chaff roughage for sheep. Roots and cab- 

 bage, however, should be sliced, for they can be fed to best 

 advantage either alone or mixed with grain or chaffed hay. 

 It is unnecessary to grind grain for mature sheep, for they 

 digest entire seeds very effectively. Young lambs, on the 

 contrary, should be fed cracked or ground feed. Where lin- 

 seed cake is to be used, it will be found desirable to purchase 

 "pea" size for sheep, for this form is palatable, is not likely 

 to be adulterated, and does not gum up in the mouth as 

 may happen with the meal. 



The influence of breed in feeding sheep. In general 

 the large breeds make the greatest daily gains in weight, 

 and the fine wools the least. Feeding trials at the Iowa 

 station showed that wethers of the long-wool breeds did 

 not consume quite so much grain for 100 pounds of gain in 

 live weight as did the lighter-weight breeds, although the 

 Oxford Down, which attains heavy weight, consumed essen- 

 tially a maximum amount of grain per 100 pounds of gain. 



The proportion of grain to roughage for sheep very 

 naturally will depend upon conditions. When pastures are 

 good, it is not usually necessary to feed breeding sheep grain, 

 although in the case of nursing ewes an exception may be 

 made. In the dry lot, when roughage and grain are used, 

 and fattening is in progress, the weight of roughage, as a 

 rule, exceeds that of the grain. Reports on feeding experi- 

 ments, nevertheless, show plenty of examples with a con- 

 trary result. Henry and Morrison in reporting on 17 experi- 

 mental lots, including 1,180 lambs being fattened on corn,* 

 show that where unlimited corn was fed, it required 400 

 pounds of grain and 436 pounds of hay to make 100 pounds 

 of gain, while, in the case of a limited corn feed, it required 

 but 288 pounds of grain and 655 pounds of hay for 100 

 pounds of gain. At the Illinois station Coffey "found that 

 it was possible in a period of 98 days to feed 100 pounds of 



*Feeds and Feeding, 1917. 



