290 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



Late in March the lambs may be shorn, if they 

 have not already gone to market, and the feeding- 

 continued for a little time thereafter. When they 

 are ripe they should go to market, otherwise losses 

 are likely to follow, not from disease but from dis- 

 orders favored by too plethoric a condition. 



With small lambs it requires at least 120 days to 

 ripen. With larger and more fleshy ones less time 

 is required. With very small lambs in thin flesh 180 

 days are none too many to induce ripeness. The 

 latter part of the feeding period gives the more 

 profit, since gains are better than at the beginning 

 when the lambs were unused to feed. 



It is cheaper to ship the lambs to market clipped, 

 since many more can ride in a car and the freight 

 is no more. 



When the lambs are uneven in size it is likely that 

 some will ripen before the rest. In this case a car- 

 load may often be sent on and the rest allowed to 

 ripen further. 



The writer has sometimes made lambs fed in this 

 manner gain nearly 100 per cent in weight. It is a 

 pleasant business and in the long run profitable. 

 Sometimes a year will come when the price of feed- 

 ers is too high in proportion to the selling price of 

 lambs and one must figure on the value of the ma- 

 nure to find his profit. 



In recent years the writer has varied the treatment 

 outlined by feeding corn silage in connection with 

 ear corn and alfalfa hay. This silage is made from 

 well matured corn, so that it makes a sweet silage, 



