HAY FOR SHEEP FEEDING. 



397 



Study of this table shows plainly why it is that 

 ewes well fed with alfalfa hay are well nourished. 

 Ewes eating alfalfa hay during pregnancy have ud- 

 ders well filled with milk when the lambs are born. 

 This makes the shepherd's cares light at that anx- 

 ious time. Ewes suckling their lambs will milk well 

 on alfalfa 'hay with a trifle of grain in addition. 

 Lambs born in winter will, with bright alfalfa hay 

 and a ration of cracked corn, develop rapidly and 

 make prime lambs for the fancy "hot house " trade. 



Lamb Feeding at Woodland. The writer was 

 perhaps the first man east of Colorado to begin fat- 

 tening lambs with alfalfa as the hay ration. His 

 earlier practice was to feed timothy hay, shredded- 

 corn stover, oat straw and clover hay. To balance 

 these fodders, deficient in protein, he bought wheat 

 bran and oilmeal. The result was satisfactory, ex- 

 cept that the cost of making baby mutton was ex- 

 cessive. These lambs were fed from November un- 

 til April, being bought from western ranges or from 

 farms. About the average cost during the early 

 90 's was $6.25 per hundred pounds for the gain put 

 on. Concentrates rich in protein grew steadily 

 dearer and lambs cheaper, so that it seemed that 



