68 SHEEP FEEDING 



manufacturer, who buys dust, chaff, oat hulls, and corn cobs, 

 mixes molasses with it and sells it for fancy prices. Is it 

 good ? Well, maybe. The sheep business ought to be good ; 

 it is not. High-priced screenings that were worthless have 

 ruined many a man, but the big losses have been caused by 

 the markets going to pieces just when a great many sheep 

 were ready and had to be marketed. It is up to the packer 

 or butcher as to who put the big feeders out of business, for 

 they are about all gone now. The packer says that he is 

 losing money on sheep, and if you ask the butcher about it 

 when you pay twenty and thirty cents a pound for lamb 

 chops, he will tell you that it is the packer's fault ; so there 

 you are. I believe the butcher is most to blame, and I think 

 he would sell more mutton and make more money if he 

 sold at a smaller price per pound. One thing that is sure 

 is the fact that at the time of year when the best lambs 

 are marketed they sell the lowest. At any rate, it is a sure 

 thing that no one should feed sheep except the farmer who has 

 his own feed. The speculator has done it for the last twenty 

 years but he cannot do it any more." 



Corn is king. Corn is the standard grain for fattening 

 sheep, and when combined with leguminous hay makes as 

 satisfactory gains and produces as good a quality of mutton 

 as can be desired. 



Successful feeders differ widely in their opinion as to the 

 best form in which to feed corn to sheep. Some say they 

 would not have their corn shelled or ground for their sheep 

 if it could be done for nothing, while others feed it shelled, 

 and some feed it ground. The principle which governs this 

 question is one that has to do with rapidity of eating. Sheep 

 are inclined to gulp their grain too fast, so a good feeder 

 tries to supply the grain in a form that will prevent this. 



