326 



PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS 



do well. Salt furnishes the chlorin required for the hydrochloric 

 acid of the gastric juice, and has also other important functions in 

 the digestion of food (p. 24). 



Hot-house Lambs. The most extreme method of fattening 

 sheep is that of producing so-called hot-house lambs (Fig. 90). 

 The term " hot-house " applies to lambs born in the late fall or early 

 winter, which are fattened during the winter months and marketed 

 in the early spring. The quarters in which the lambs are fed are 

 not artificially heated, the name having reference to the fact that 

 the lambs are produced under artificial conditions for a market 

 willing to pay a very high price for a fancy article, in a similar way 



FIG. 90. Grade Dorset lambs from Merino ewes make excellent hot-house lambs. (Peterson.) 



as in the case of ordinary hot-house products. The lambs must 

 be in fat condition to sell as hot-house lambs. Dorsets or Dorset 

 grades are best suited for lamb production, as the ewes will breed 

 earlier than the usual time, viz., during the early summer, and the 

 lambs will be dropped during October and November. The mother's 

 milk is the best feed available, and ewes must be fed liberally on 

 milk-producing feeds so as to give a maximum flow of milk. The 

 ewes' milk is supplemented by grain feeds as the lambs grow older. 

 The following grain mixtures were found to give good results in 

 trials with hot-house lambs at Cornell station : 8 



8 Bulletin 309, which see for description of the method of management 

 of a hot-house lamb producing flock throughout the year. 



