FACTORS IK SELECTION OF FEEDING SHEEP 19 



WHEN LAMBS EXCEL AS FEEDERS 



The most important points briefly stated. Lambs make more 

 pounds of gain per pound of feed than yearlings or wethers. 



The feeding period of lambs is often longer, and may 

 be made much longer, than that of yearlings or wethers. 

 They eat less roughness per pound of grain than any of 

 the other subclasses. 



Lambs grow, as well as fatten, while in the feed yard. 



It requires much more care, attention, and a broader ex- 

 perience to feed lambs than older sheep, for they are often 

 taken direct from their mothers and shipped to market, 

 where they undergo many new and hard experiences. It is 

 needless to say that such tender babies need the hand of 

 experience to care for their wants. They are not the sheep 

 for the novice. 



For rough cornfield feeding they are not as well adapted 

 as yearlings or wethers, although there are men of experi- 

 ence who feed them successfully in this way. 



For pasturing a catch crop of rape or cowpeas out of a 

 cornfield, where it is not intended that the sheep shall eat 

 the grain, lambs stand first. 



They require the best grade of feed served in its most 

 tempting form. The principal roughness should always be 

 a legume ; the grain, which is in the majority of cases corn, 

 some say should be ground, while others state that shelled 

 is preferable, and many successful feeders use ear corn. 

 Unquestionably there is less danger in feeding ear corn 

 than unmixed ground corn. 



Except in the drier regions of the West, lambs will require 

 some kind of shelter during a feeding period that extends 

 into early winter. 



