FEEDING SHEEP 375 



experiments in fattening range lambs by the Texas station, 

 excellent results were secured from feeding cottonseed meal, 

 cottonseed hulls, milo and feterita chops, and sorghum from 

 milo and feterita.* In the state of Colorado, and especially 

 in the San Luis valley, large numbers of lambs are each year 

 turned on to fields of peas containing a small per cent of oats 

 or barley, where they fatten in from 70 to 120 days. Many 

 Colorado lambs are fattened on alfalfa hay and corn also. 



The fattening of yearlings or wethers is not so extensively 

 conducted as it was formerly. The tendency is to turn the 

 sheep off as fat lambs, as the heavier-weight wethers are 

 unpopular sellers. In some markets it is difficult to sell 

 them at all. Even in the British market large joints no 

 longer meet with the favor they enjoyed prior to the World 

 War. In fattening heavy sheep, the gains made will largely 

 depend on previous condition of flesh and whether or not 

 the teeth are in good shape. The cost of gain in fattening 

 sheep of the older class will exceed those made on lambs, 

 while the selling price will be less. 



The feeding of winter, or hot-house, lambs, is a special- 

 ized industry in a limited way in some sections of the eastern 

 United States. If the ewes lamb in November and Decem- 

 ber, the lambs will go on market in 10 or 12 weeks, weighing 

 50 to 60 pounds. Dorset Horn, Tunis, and Merino ewes 

 are used, with dark-faced rams like the Hampshire, South- 

 down or Shropshire for sires. It is important that the ewes 

 kept produce plenty of milk. The lambs should be taught 

 to eat grain as soon as possible that they be well started at 

 two or three weeks of age. The grain for the first month 

 should be broken or cracked, but after that time whole grain 

 may be fed. Early lambs relish shelled corn, and this with 

 alfalfa or clover hay will give good results. Some variety 

 of grain, however, with a bit of molasses mixed with it, will 

 prove appetizing. The following ration is recommended f by 



*Bulletin 186 Texas Station, March, 1916. 



tHot House or Winter Lamb Raising upon Canadian Farms, Pamphlet No. 11. 

 Dominion Department of Agriculture, 1915. 



