90 SHEEP FEEDING 



sowing cowpeas and rape in the corn are given earlier 

 in this chapter. 



Western sheep in cornfields. When it is intended to have 

 the sheep utilize the corn and forage during the same period, 

 it is essential to start them on corn as soon as possible, for 

 otherwise they will pasture out the undergrowth before they 

 start on the grain. Wethers, yearlings, and in some cases 

 a well-matured class of lambs are best adapted to corn- 

 field grazing. They should be started slowly and given a 

 taste of corn as soon as practicable. If they take to the corn 

 too rapidly, it is best to leave them in the fields only a short 

 time each day, the time being increased gradually until they 

 are on full feed, when they can be given free access to the 

 fields and they will then gather for themselves the proper 

 balance between corn and forage ; provided, of course, there 

 is a sufficiency of both. Rape is more satisfactory than cow- 

 peas when used in this way, for it is available as a feed over 

 a much longer period. 



Amount of corn necessary to fatten a sheep. It is generally 

 estimated that it takes from two to four bushels of corn to 

 fatten a sheep in a cornfiejd, the latter amount being re- 

 quired for a wether, but a farmer in Iowa says : " I fat- 

 tened fifteen hundred sheep, yearlings and wethers, in a 

 cornfield that contained a good growth of rape, sown at 

 laying-by time at the rate of two and one-half pounds per 

 acre, and they ate only about fifteen hundred bushels of 

 corn. I consider that the rape saved at least two bushels 

 of corn per head." 



A catch crop as a saving of corn. A central Missouri 

 farmer has the following to say about a bunch of Mexican 

 yearlings: ''One thousand four hundred and ninety-two 

 yearlings reached my farm the middle of November weighing 



