FEEDING SHEEP 373 



in ten or twelve days, and from then on their appetite for 

 such food increases. A mixture of equal parts ground corn, 

 oats and bran, and one tenth part linseed meal, makes an 

 excellent feed for young lambs. Later the corn and oats 

 may be fed unground. In the West barley or Kafir corn 

 may replace ordinary corn, if desired. Lambs soon take to 

 roughage of a palatable sort, like fine clover or alfalfa, or a 

 bright leafy hay. What is known as a lamb-creep should 

 be made in the pen, by partitioning off a space, into which 

 the lambs can creep, in which special feed may be placed for 

 them that can not be reached by the ewes. When the lamb 

 is four weeks or so old, it may be eating a quarter of a pound 

 of grain a day, while when two months old this may be 

 increased to three fourths of a pound daily. Lambs are often 

 weaned when about four or five months old. They should 

 then be separated from the dams, and given plenty of good 

 feed, on pasture or dry lot, as seems best. If they are to be 

 marketed, they should be fed grain until sold and shipped. 

 The feeding and care of the rams are comparatively sim- 

 ple. The ram lambs should be separated from the ewe lambs, 

 and given such attention, that they may grow into strong, 

 muscular individuals. During the season they should have 

 excellent pasture or forage, with not much if any grain. In 

 the late fall, when they go into winter quarters, they may be 

 fed preferably some legume and a small ration of equal 

 parts of corn and oats. A light feed of silage is also excellent. 

 Great care must be taken in feeding roots to rams, as they 

 tend to create a lime deposit, known as calculi, in the kid- 

 neys, frequently causing death. In the feeding of more 

 mature rams, plenty of good legume roughage, and a light 

 feed of 4 parts of oats, 2 parts of corn and 1 of linseed cake, 

 is recommended. The important thing is to keep the rams 

 in strong condition, but not fat. A fully matured ram, even 

 in breeding season, should rarely need over one pound of 

 grain a day, and half this amount may do. 



