CHAPTER IV 



PROFITABLE SYSTEMS FOR FEEDING SHEEP 



Limitation of our discussion to the most profitable systems. 

 It would be impossible to give details of all the different 

 methods of feeding sheep that are practiced in the United 

 States. Those systems, however, that are yielding the great- 

 est net profit, and are developed to the extent that it is 

 practical for others to try them, will be described in such 

 a way that the description will form directions. For the 

 farmer, this method or plan of discussion is essential if he 

 desires to take up the work. For the student, it reduces the 

 ideas expressed to a definite concrete system, easily grasped 

 and retained. A plan or discussion that carries the idea 

 of a system is more logical and easier to remember than 

 a number of isolated facts. 



SYSTEM I. A GREEN-FEED RATION, GROWN AS A CATCH 

 CROP IN CORN AND PASTURED DOWN 



Growing cowpeas and rape in the corn. Starting on the 

 supposition that the days of late summer and early fall find 

 the corn fields filled with a good growth of cowpeas and 

 rape, let us consider the purchase of feeder sheep that will 

 handle it most profitably. This is a lamb proposition, hence, 

 under ordinary circumstances, not to be undertaken by the 

 beginner. The type of lamb best adapted to this system 

 is one weighing from about fifty to fifty-five pounds and 

 not so very thin, for the feeding period only lasts for from 



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