BULLETIN 



OF THE 



Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 



NUMBER 179. DECEMBER, 1906. 



FATTENING RANGE LAMBS. 



A COMPARISON OF RATIONS. 

 BY B. E. CARMICHAEL. 



On account of the importance of the sheep feeding- industry in 

 Ohio and the need for accurate information concerning rations and 

 management, the Animal Husbandry .department of this Station 

 hns bei^un a series of experiments in fattening sheep. The ex- 

 periment which is considered in this bulletin was conducted dur- 

 ing- the winter of 1905-'06 by Mr. S. J. Fryer at his farm in Wayne 

 county, in co-operation with the Animal Husbandry department of 

 the Station. 



OBJECT. 



The object of the experiment was to test the advisability of 

 feeding- to fattening- range lambs, cottonseed meal, linseed oil meal, 



or Dr. Hess' stock food with corn, alfalfa and clover. 







LAMBS USED IN THE EXPERIMENT. 



The lambs used in this experiment, 160 head, fed in four lots 

 of forty each, were all wethers, selected from a flock of 658 head 

 which Mr Fryer had purchased for his winter feeding. The lambs 

 were selected with a view to securing uniformity of lots and 

 uniformity of the lambs within each lot. Thero was an excellent 

 opportunity for such a selection, and none'of the lots possessed an 

 apparent advantage over any other lot so far as ability to make 

 gains was concerned. 



The lambs were raised in Wyoming and were said to be from 

 quarter-blood Gotswold ewes and three-quarter-blood rams of the 

 same breed. They resembled the Cotswold type more than the 

 Merino, although they probably descended from a foundation stock 

 rich in Merino blood. They were purchased on the Chicago market 

 by a commission firm upon order for Mr. Fryer on September 18, 

 1905. On September 19 they were shipped from Chicago and 

 arrived at Mr. Fryer's farm on the following day. 



