Jan., 1911] 



FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS. 



13 



ble carbohydrates, consequently producing a wide nutritive 

 ratio — wider by far than that for clover hay Nor are the 

 digestion coefficients for the native hay so high as for the clover. 



COST OF RATIONS AND GAINS. 



TABLE 9— POUNDS OF DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS FOR 100 POUNDS INCREASE IN WEIGHT. 



Lot. 



Ration. 



Digestible 



Fat. 



I 



II 

 III 

 IV 



Grain, Turnips, Clover Hay. 

 Grain, Turnips, Native Hay 



Turnips, Clover Hay 



Turnips, Native Hay 



13.39 

 17.90 

 22.82 

 52.30 



TABLE 10— AVERAGE WEIGHT AND COST OF FEED FOR 100 POUNDS INCREASE IN WEIGHT . 



Tables 9 and 10 are self-explanatory. In these the supremacy 

 of clover hay over native hay as a feed for sheep is patently 

 shown. Both the clover hay fed lots required less feed to pro- 

 duce a hundred pounds increase in weight, and the cost of pro- 

 ducing this gain was much less. In fact, with lot IV the cost 

 was exorbitant and far from profitable. 



Another feature is emphasized in Table 10, and that is the 

 greater cost of producing an increase in weight with aged sheep 

 than with lambs. That this criterion also applies, although not 

 to such an extent, in comparing lambs with yearlings, should 

 be borne in mind by the practical feeder. If merely preparing 

 his sheep for the shambles, he should sell as lambs, and thus 

 avoid the added expense of a prolonged feeding period and the 

 naturally increased cost of producing a pound of gain. 



