Experiments in Fattening Sheep. 



607 



It will be seen that though oat straw was useful it was inferior 

 to the combination of clover hay and corn stover; 180 pounds, or 

 27 per cent., more dry matter being required for the same gain. 

 Commenting on oat straw as a feed for lambs, Mumford writes: 

 ' ' Lambs fed on oat straw as the fodder part of the ration consumed 

 an average of 1.25 pounds per lamb per day. The average total 

 gain of each lamb was 28.5 pounds, or 2.03 pounds per week. 

 The results of this experiment seem to indicate that the value of 

 oat straw in the fodder ration of fattening lambs has been hitherto 

 underrated." 



773. Millet hay.— At the Michigan Station, » H. W. Mumford 

 fed two lots of lambs of ten each, giving to one millet hay for 

 roughage and the other clover hay and oat straw, both lots receiv- 

 ing corn and roots additional. The trial, which lasted fourteen 

 weeks, gave the results summarized in the table. 



Millet hay compared with clover hay and oat straw — Michigan Station. 



The clover-hay oat-straw ration proved superior to that con 

 taining millet hay, the difference being 14 per cent, in favor of 

 the former measured by the dry matter consumed per 100 pounds 

 of gain. Commenting on the use of millet hay for feeding lambs, 

 Mumford writes: "More care is necessary in feeding millet hay 

 to fattening lambs than any other coarse fodder. Unless fed in 

 small quantities it induces scour. Each lamb in the lot receiv- 

 ing millet hay was fed an average of .9 of a pound per day 



» Bui. 136. 



