MAINTENANCE OF BREEDING EWES OF MUTTON AND WOOL SHEEP 13 



The average cost of winter feed was $1.56 per ewe greater in 

 >t I than in Lot II. Manure was valued at $2.50 per ton. The 

 due of the shelter, the feed racks and the other facilities used by 

 le ewes on the experiment was $100. 



The percentage of lambs raised to a weaning age was 110 

 per cent in Lot I and 95 per cent in Lot II. The heavy loss of 

 lambs was due largely to employment of inexperienced labor and 

 lack of exercise space, facts which serve to emphasize the import- 

 ance of these two factors in successful sheep raising. Greater milk 

 flow from the ewes fed alfalfa hay as a sole roughage in Lot I as 

 compared with Lot II caused the greater gain in the lambs. Dur- 

 ing the winter of 1914-15 no grain was fed to the ewes before 

 lambing; the result was weaker lambs in Lot I, and less milk from 

 the ewes at time of lambing. By giving credit for the manure 

 produced and the cost of feed, labor, equipment and bedding for a 

 winter period of 158.3 days, the Shropshires fed alfalfa cost 23 

 per cent more for maintenance than the Shropshires in Lot II, fed 

 corn silage and alfalfa hay as roughage. 



The results obtained in the two Delaine-Merino lots fed the 

 same as the Shropshire lots show similar correlation. Cost of 

 feeds was $1.36 more per ewe in Lot III than in Lot IV. There 

 was no apparent difference in the vigor of these lambs at birth 

 except during the winter of 1914-15 when no grain was fed prior 

 to lambing. The ewes in Lot III (1914-15), fed alfalfa hay as a sole 

 roughage, produced lambs less vigorous and gave less milk at lamb- 

 ing time than those of Lot IV. This difference, however, was not as 

 evident in the Delaine-Merino ewes as in the Shropshire ewes. 

 The Delaine-Merino ewes of Lot III, fed alfalfa hay as a sole 

 roughage, supplemented with a grain mixture, furnished more milk 

 to their lambs. The total cost of winter maintenance per ewe 

 after giving credit for the manure was 23 per cent greater in Lot 

 III than in Lot IV. 



The Delaine-Merino lambs weighed more at eight weeks of 

 age in Lot III than the Shropshires in Lot I, due to the Delaine- 

 Merino ewes nursing single lambs and the Shropshire ewes nursing 

 a higher percentage of twins. During the three winters of the 

 investigation the Delaine-Merinos lambed earlier and in a shorter 

 period than did the Shropshire ewes, because of being bred earlier 

 in the fall and mating nearer the same time than the Shropshires, 

 even though the mating season began on the same date for all lots. 



