EXPERIMENTS IN WINTER LAMB PRODUCTION 



203 



would eat. The ewes in both lots were fed all the hay and silage 

 they would consume without undue waste. Both ewes and lambs 

 were fed as heavily on grain as they would stand, so as to keep the 

 lambs growing as rapidly as possible. Table I shows the average 

 daily ration consumed by the ewes and lambs in each lot by weekly 

 periods and the average for the entire experiment. 



TABLE I. EXPERIMENT I: Average daily ration consumed by ewes 

 and lambs, by weekly periods 



The average daily ration consumed by the ewes as shown by 

 Table I is probably less than is ordinarily fed to ewes raising hot- 

 house lambs, but it should be remembered that these were ewes 

 averaging less than 90 pounds in weight (see Table II, page 204). 

 Larger ewes would probably require more feed to produce the best 

 results. 



Feeds used: Both the corn and the hay fed were of good 

 quality. Old process oilmeal (pea size) was used. The silage was 

 made from corn of the Clarage variety which had been allowed to 

 reach a good degree of maturity before cutting. It contained a 

 large amount of grain and was of good quality. During part of the 

 time it contained a very small percentage of soybeans. 



Quarters: During the entire experiment the ewes and lambs 

 were confined in pens, each containing approximately 150 square feet, 

 inside a well ventilated barn with an abundance of sunlight from a 

 southern exposure. Water was supplied to each lot in automatically 

 regulated galvanized iron tanks. Each pen was provided with a 

 ''lamb creep" on one side, which furnished a place where the lambs 

 could eat undisturbed by the ewes. 



Method of feeding: The lambs were confined in the "lamb 

 creeps" at feeding time until the ewes had finished eating. The 

 lambs were fed all of the shelled corn and alfalfa hay they would eat 



