142 



Table 2. Amount feed required to maintain a ewe before 

 and after lambing. 



At the beginning of the test the feed of those ewes in 

 milk was made just double the amount given the dry ewes 

 so that the animals would be sure to not lose in weight, 

 but it was soon learned, as the ewes begun to increase in 

 weight, that an hundred per cent, increase was more than 

 necessary, so the amount was gradually decreased until it 

 was brought down to the above average figures. They were 

 carried along upon this basis for a period of seventy-three 

 days. The ewes were practically maintained, as far as 

 total weight was concerned, as they gained but one and one- 

 half pounds for the whole time. In the test it required 

 75 per cent, more cotton seed meal and 81 per cent, more 

 hulls to maintain a ewe when suckling a lamb than when 

 she was dry and pregnant. Of course there are several fac- 

 tors that would be controlling ones in determining the 

 amount of feed required for an animal after lambing, as 

 the amount of milk given, but under conditions as they 

 existed in this test the necessary increase in feed, when the 

 animal came into milk, was nc4 less than 75 per cent, above 

 that which she received when dry. 



In some experimental work with grade angns cows, Pro- 

 fessor Mumford, of the Illinois University, in bulletin III, 

 says, "In this test it took approximately twice as much feed 

 to maintain a cow suckling a calf as it did during her 

 pregnancy." 



