SHEEP 359 



Gilbert gives 11 pounds for cattle and 9 pounds for sheep. This in- 

 dicates that a pound of mutton can be made on lambs at less ex- 

 penditure for feed than is required to produce a pound of beef on 

 cattle at the ordinary age of finishing for market. 



It is sometimes asserted that cattle and sheep require the same 

 amount of feed per thousand pounds of live weight. This statement 

 seems not to be well founded. In recent experiments cattle con- 

 sumed 19.6 pounds of dry matter per thousand pounds of live weight, 

 against an average of 29.07 by the sheep. Both sheep and cattle 

 were on full feed. The sheep made a daily gain of 3.73 pounds per 

 thousand pounds live weight, and the cattle 2.14. In summing up 

 this comparison, we find that while the sheep ate 48 per cent more 

 than the cattle, they also gained nearly 75 per cent more. 



With older sheep a larger amount of feed is required in propor- 

 tion to increase in live weight. This was quite clearly demonstrated 

 in the experiment conducted by the Iowa Stations in which the 

 costs of producing gain on pure-bred Shropshire wethers and lambs 

 under the same conditions and on the same ration were compared. 

 It cost 56 per cent more to produce gain on yearlings than on lambs 

 of the same breed ; perhaps this difference is somewhat greater than 

 would ordinarily occur on account of the wethers being somewhat 

 fatter at the beginning of the experiment than the lambs, although 

 the comparison from month to month shows a wide difference in each 

 case. It always costs proportionately less to make gains on young 

 animals than on older ones. (Ohio St. B. 60; Iowa St. B. 33.) 



GESTATION. 



1. From the breeding records of 514 ewes it is concluded that 

 the normal period of gestation ranges from 144 to 150 days after 

 the date of service and that more ewes will lamb 146 days after 

 service than at any other time. 2. There is no appreciable difference 

 in the period of gestation for male and female offsprings in sheep. 

 3. There is an apparent relation between the duration of the period 

 of gestation and the period required for reaching maturity. Quick 

 maturing breeds appear to carry their young for a shorter period than 

 those breeds requiring more time to mature. 4. Large lambs are on 

 the average carried in utero for an appreciable longer period than 

 small or medium lambs. 5. Lambs dropped before the 144th and 

 after the 149th day of pregnancy are lacking in strength and vital- 

 ity at birth. 6. Shropshire ewes were more prolific than any of the 

 other breeds and crosses except the fourth cross of Shropshire rams 

 on a Merino ewe foundation. 7. From the data presented it is appar- 

 ent that twins are the normal increase for ewes of the mutton type. 

 8. One year old rams are not so prolific as those two or three years 

 old. Ewes also average a larger percentage of increase in lambs 

 after they reach full maturity at three years of age until after they 

 are six years old, when the rate of increase diminishes. 9. The 

 amount of service required of the ram in breeding lias an influence 

 on the percentage increase in offspring of the ewes that produce 

 lambs. Ewes bred early in the season of mating to a single ram. 



