FOR SHOW RING AND MARKET. 91 



make the best grain ration for breeding ewes; a little oil 

 meal added makes a better ration perhaps, especially toward 

 lambing time. Corn is not a desirable ration for ewes, 

 although, perhaps, better than nothing at all in the shape 

 of supplementary food. One-half a pound of grain will be 

 found fully sufficient for a breeding ewe until she has 

 lambed, where good fodder, etc., is plentifully provided. 



A Cheap and Healthful Ration for Breeding Ewes. 



The most economical and satisfactory ration I have ever yet 

 fed to a breeding flock of ewes was composed of cut clover hay 

 and cut oat-straw, equal parts, with which was mixed pulped 

 turnips, bran and bruised oats. In mixing this it was my 

 aim that each ewe should get, with all the cut hay and oat- 

 straw she could eat, about five pounds of turnips and one- 

 half pound of bran and bruised oats per day. This ration 

 was fed in troughs made especially for the feeding of such 

 rations. They were made ten feet in length, one foot in 

 width and seven inches in depth, and stood on small blocks. 



The ewes did not get fat on this ration but kept in the finest 

 possible breeding condition, they being playful, agile, strong 

 and covered with a beautifully lustrous fleece. The crop of 

 lambs from these ewes was a phenomenal one. They were 

 large, strong and scarcely a feeble one among the whole 

 bunch. The ewes milked heavily and kept in fine condition 

 until they went to pasture. I should have mentioned that 

 just about when lambing commenced, having run short of 

 turnips, I commenced to feed lightly on mangels and added 

 also a small daily allowance of oil-cake to the ration. 



Where the feeding of such a ration as the above is con- 



