70 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



II. — Feeding Experiments with Lambs, 1890. 



The feeding experiments which are briefly described within 

 a few subsequent pages are the first of a series devised for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the cost of feed, when fattening 

 lambs, by means of winter fodder rations, for the meat 

 market. 



The selection of animals, with reference to breeds best 

 adapted for our purpose, was controlled by the temporary 

 supply of our local market. Six lambs, three ewes and 

 three wethers, bought of a former in our vicinity, Sept. 4, 

 1889, served for our observations. They were grades of a 

 somewhat doubtful parentage ; five showed some of the 

 characteristics of Hampshire Downs, and one of Merinos. 

 Each animal occupied, during the entire period of observa- 

 tion, a separate pen. They were shorn before being weighed, 

 at the beginning of the experiment. 



The daily diet of the entire lot consisted, during the first 

 week, of rowen (dried second cut of grass lands). They 

 were subsequently treated in two divisions, each comprising 

 three animals. This division was made for the purpose of 

 comparing the effect of two distinctly different daily fodder 

 rations on the financial results of the operation. Division I. 

 (Nos. 1-3) received a daily diet much richer in nitrogenous 

 food constituents than the one adopted for Division II. 

 (Nos. 4-6). This circumstance was brought about by feed- 

 ing to the first division as grain feed a mixture of wheat bran 

 and of gluten meal, and to the second division one consisting 

 of a liberal proportion of corn meal, with some wheat bran 

 and gluten meal. The coarse portion of the daily feed was 

 in both cases essentially the same ; namely, either rowen, or 

 rowen and corn ensilage, or corn ensilage alone. It was cut 

 before being mixed with the grain feed, when fed. The 

 daily fodder ration was divided into two equal parts, and 

 fed respectively in the morning and in the evening. The 

 amount of feed left unconsumed, if any, was collected each 

 morning and deducted from the daily ration offered the pre- 

 ceding day for consumption. 



The observations in case of the first division of lambs 

 (Nos. 1-3) were continued for 152 successive days (Sept. 



