PART II. 



FEEDING COTTON SEED MEAL TO SHEEP. 



It is generally thought that cotton seed meal has a toxic- 

 effect on sheep similar to the effect it often has on hogs. 

 Many farmers will not use it as a sheep feed because of the 

 reported ill results. It is charged with producing illness, 

 blindness, dizziness, etc., after being used for a few weeks. 

 For the last four years this Station has been trying to 

 determine whether cotton seed meal is an injurious feed 

 for sheep or not, and, so far, no ill results have come from 

 its use, with possibly one exception in 1906. 



The old flock of ewes has been used in this work to- 

 gether with a flock of scrub ewes which were brought to 

 the farm in the summer of 1907. The animals using the 

 meal have been fed by the side of other animals which were 

 being given rations without cotton seed meal so as to study 

 the effect of the cotton seed meal upon the general health 

 of the animals, even though no deaths should occur as a 

 result of its use. The following table gives the details of 

 ihe live weight, total cotton seed meal eaten and num- 

 ber of days that each ewe ate the cotton seed meal : 



Table 6. Feeding cotton seed meal to sheep. 



15 90 94 ' 2 j'88for 73 das' i 133 Excellent health throughout. 



106 



33.2 .5 



Became sick; taken out of 

 66 test, died within four months 

 of stomach worms. 



