WESTERN LAMB FEEDING 309 



growth along with fattening. The writer once made 

 a gain of 45 pounds with lambs in the barn while 

 his wethers outside, very well fed, gained 20 pounds. 

 The wethers consumed more corn than the lambs 

 but had no wheat bran which the lambs received. 



Sheep, better than lambs, will consume various 

 coarse fodders. Soybean straw they relish if it 

 is not weather damaged, and bean and pea straw. 

 When only a maintenance ration is fed it may con- 

 sist largely of these fodders, with a trifle of grain 

 to keep up weight. 



While in the regions west of the Missouri sheep 

 feeding is carried on in this rather primitive fash- 

 ion, in Michigan and Ohio it has progressed further 

 toward a right solution of the problem. The writer 

 has a neighbor who has fed sheep for many years. 

 This neighbor, Chas. Bales of Madison Co., Ohio, 

 formerly fed in open yards protected only by high 

 fences. In these yards he fed with shock corn, us- 

 ing self-feeders toward the latter part of the pe- 

 riod. He was able to get a gain of about 30 pounds, 

 using the best class of Montana feeders. 



Later he built barns and sheds in which he fed 

 clover and alfalfa hay. Continuing his grain feed- 

 ing in much the same manner he was able to in- 

 crease his average gain so that 1,000 sheep weigh- 

 ing when they went into the yard 110 pounds aver- 

 age increased to a weight of 156 pounds besides 

 shearing a fleece of 10 pounds. At the same time 

 he cut down his death losses to 2 sheep from 1,200 

 one year and again to 6 from 1,200. He attributes 



