SHEEP FEEDING. 87 



were purchased from a local grist mill, and consisted of 

 considerable broken wheat, and weed seeds of very many kinds. 

 The pnces allowed for these feeds are the average prices for the 

 winter and were as follows: Clover hay, $5.00 per ton; wheat 

 screenings, 85c. per cwt. ; wheat, $1.25 per cwt. ; oats, $1.00 per cwt. ; 

 barley, Si.oo per cwt. The sheep were fed in yards which, in one 

 end. liad a covered shelter and on the other end running water. 

 The sheep, therefore, were at liberty to seek the shelter whenevei 

 they desired to do- so, which we found to be very seldom. They also 

 had access to water at will. 



THE WEIGHING OF THE SHEEP. 



All farm animals vary considerable in weight from day to day 

 depending upon the contents of the digestive organs. To avoid 

 the errors that might arise from this variation, the animals were 

 weighed three days in succession at the beginning of the experiment 

 and again at the end. It is usual, also, to weigh them once or twice 

 every two weeks to note the growth of the animals, so as to keep 

 a careful check on the results while in progress. The weights in 

 this test were taken right after noon, which would be some hours 

 after the morning's feed. 



PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENT. 



The purpose of the experiment was similar to that of the year 

 before. In addition to determining the general facts in regard to 

 the value of clover as sheep feed and the gains that might be made 

 upon our range flocks during the feeding period in the winter, it 

 was also desired to find the feeding value of the different kinds of 

 grains and mixtures of grains available to the Montana farmer. 



The sheep, therefore, were divided into ten lots, 5 lots of lambs 

 and 5 lots of wethers. There were 24 sheep in each lot. 



The lambs were fed as follows: Lot i, clover hay and wheat 

 screenings ;lot 2 clover hay and wheat; lot 3, clover hay and oats; 

 lot 4, clover hay and barley; lot 5 clover hay and a mixture of 

 grains, made up of equal parts by weight of wheat, oats and bar- 

 ley. The five lots of wethers were numbered correspondingly and 

 led the same as the lambs. 



The clover was fed ab libitum, our idea being to . feed what 

 the animals would eat up fairly clean. As stated above, the first 



