34 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 120 



The silage was always fed in the morning so that if any ill effects re- 

 sulted it could be noticed more readily. Feeding was done at 7 :30 

 in the morning and at 4:00 in the afternoon. 



During the first year, the ewes and lambs were removed after 

 lambing, from the lot in which they had been fed throughout the 

 winter and placed in a lot where they were fed a ration of grain and 

 alfalfa hay. The grain ration being the same as was fed before; 

 corn six parts, wheat bran three parts and linseed oil meal one part. 

 The ewes and lambs from all lots were placed in one yard and re- 

 ceived such amounts of hay and grain as were necessary to keep them 

 in good thrifty condition. 



The second year the ewes, after lambing, were continued on the 

 ration which they had been receiving, until they were turned out on 

 rye pasture, April 2. 



Water and Salt. All lots were supplied with fresh clean water 

 from the deep wells of the University water system. Common bar- 

 rel salt was kept before the ewes at all times. 



WEIGHT RECORDS. 



Weights of Ewes. The ewes and lambs were weighed every 

 thirty days. The water was cut off the evening before each weigh 

 day and the ewes were weighed in the morning before feeding. The 

 final weights of the ewes were taken six to eight hours after lambing. 

 Three successive weights were taken at the beginning of the experi- 

 ment, the average of these three weights being used as the initial 

 weight. The second day of the three successive weigh days is used 

 as the base date for the beginning of the experiment. 



Weights of Lambs. The birth weight of the lambs was taken as 

 soon as the lambs were dry, which was six to eight hours after lamb- 

 ing. Lambs dropped during the night were weighed in the morning. 



Both years the lambs were dropped in March and the first week in 

 April. The final weights of each lot were taken when the lambs 

 averaged thirty days of age. Thus some lambs were over thirty 

 days of age while others were less than thirty days old, however, the 

 extreme difference in the ages of the lambs was in no case, over three 

 weeks. 



The Rams Used. The first year of this experiment, eighteen of 

 the ewes proved to be with lamb when purchased. The sire of 

 these lambs was unknown. The remainder of the ewes were bred to 

 yearling Hampshire rams. One was a large framed rough ram weigh- 



