FEEDING SHEEP AND GOATS 



331 



hay, 1.1 pounds oats or emmer, and 1 pound corn, wheat, barley, or 

 screenings, to equal one feed unit; 2 pounds hay (alfalfa) in the 

 western trials were assumed to be equal to one feed unit. 



Feeding Various Grains to Fattening Lambs * 



* Condensed from summary tables in Henry's "Feeds and Feeding." 

 t Eastern stations. t Western stations. 



We note that there was but little difference in the nutritive 

 effect of the corn and barley, the average daily gains made by the 

 lambs on these grains being 0.3 pound; the other grains produced 

 a gain of about one-fourth pound per head daily. Considering the 

 feed requirements for the production of 100 pounds of gain, there 

 were only slight differences between corn, barley, and oats, while 

 whole wheat, screenings, and emmer gave the lowest returns per 

 100 pounds feed units. 



Self-feeders similar to those used in the case of self -fed steers 

 are employed by some sheep farmers in feeding fattening lambs, 

 a supply of grain feeds sufficient for about a week or less being 

 placed in the feeder. The lambs are able to take all the grain they 

 want as it comes out at the bottom of the feed trough. As in the 

 case of steer feeding, the experience of farmers with self-fed sheep 

 has been both favorable and unfavorable, although the evidence 

 seems, on the whole, more unfavorable than with self-fed steers. 

 According to results obtained at the Michigan station, 12 " Fatten- 

 ing lambs by means of a self-feeder is an expensive practice, and 

 economy of production requires more attention to the variation 

 in the appetites of the animals than can be given by this method." 

 J. E. Wing, a noted authority, states 13 that not only is the death- 

 rate much heavier where self-feeders are used, but the cost of gain 

 is also much greater. It is evident, therefore, that the use of self- 

 feeders for sheep cannot be recommended, except under conditions 



12 Bulletin 128. 



13 " Sheep Farming in America"; see also Michigan Bulletin 113, 

 Minnesota Bulletin 144, Colorado Bulletin 151. 



