20 SHEEP FEEDING 



The necessary margin on which to feed lambs is con- 

 sidered to be from one dollar to two dollars per hundred- 

 weight. With a difference of a dollar and a half between 

 buying and selling price, and a fifty-cent freight rate, there 

 is generally a good profit for the feeder. 



For the man of experience, with good shelter (which means 

 quarters that are dry and clean but not necessarily warm), 

 the best quality of feed in its most tempting form, and an 

 abundance of good water, lambs will beyond a doubt be 

 the choice of feeders. 



THE FEEDING CHARACTERISTICS OF YEARLINGS 

 AND WETHERS 



Summary of the most important points. Yearlings and 

 wethers will finish on a shorter feed than lambs. 



They will consume a greater per cent of roughness per 

 pound of grain. 



Yearlings, and particularly wethers, will handle stover, 

 straw, nonleguminous hay, and hay of poor quality best 

 of any of the feeding sheep. Do not infer from this state- 

 ment that the above-mentioned feeds are ideal or even good 

 sheep feeds, for they are not ; but the farmer whose main 

 object is to feed up this class of roughness will find that 

 large, thrifty wethers will handle it much more profitably 

 than any of the other classes. 



Ear corn can be handled very satisfactorily by yearlings 

 and wethers. 



For pasturing down corn, yearlings are perhaps the best 

 that can be obtained. 



If it is necessary for the sheep to be exposed to the ele- 

 ments at all times, yearlings or wethers should be selected. 



