1014 TEE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



third-rate corn-stubble or old rowen, the value of which to the 

 animal is far less than the exertion necessary in collecting it. 



Ewes fed generously on bright corn-fodder and fine green- 

 cut hay do not require a grain ration until about the middle of 

 the fourth month of pregnancy. In the early stages of this 

 condition there is a tendency toward plethora and the laying-on 

 of fat, but the shepherd must not allow himself to be deceived 

 by this. Six weeks or so before parturition a grain ration 

 becomes imperative. It need not be large a half bushel of 

 shelled corn per hundred daily, or its equivalent, is enough. If 

 running with the dry flock hitherto they ought now to do so 

 no longer. Gestation goes on well enough on dry feed (with 

 plenty of exercise), but lactation demands more succulent nour- 

 ishment. A week or ten days before lambing begins clover,, 

 hay, and bran should be supplied, the latter at the rate of a 

 bushel or more per hundred, mixed with thirty pounds of oats 

 or shelled corn. If roots are given, they are better pulped, 

 though ewes will soon learn to eat them whole when thrown 

 into the hay-racks on the orts. It is not safe to give pregnant 

 ewes all they will consume of such cold watery feed as turnips 

 or potatoes ; it is liable to produce abortion. After lambing is 

 over there is no danger if the ration is increased gradually. 



In the Eastern States it is doubtless profitable to grow roots 

 for sheep in some instances. But in the region west of the 

 Alleghenies, with its abundance of corn-fodder and clover and 

 cheap bran, I doubt if, for wool-growing, it will be found ad- 

 vantageous to provide turnips for winter feeding, at least for 

 many years to come. For the production of very choice, juicy 

 mutton, such as will command a remunerative price only in 

 large cities, roots are important when grass is lacking. Oil-cake 

 meal and cotton-seed cake should be given to pregnant ewes 

 with caution, not over a good handful per head per day. 



I wish to make here a strong representation, founded on 

 years of personal experience as to the value of corn-fodder for 

 sheep, especially breeding ewes. It is healthfully cooling and 

 laxative, a corrective of the constipation which is a natural 

 accompaniment of pregnancy. If I were limited to one feed- 



