378 



is the only safe system to follow in the Corn Belt. 



Lambs turned on the stubble, after the small grain 

 is harvested and stacked, providing rape has been sowed 

 with the grain, will make a big gain and the manure 

 will be scattered evenly over the field. 



In 1908 and 1909 experiments were conducted at 

 this Station to determine the value of different grain 

 rations for lambs while on rape pasture, and the results 

 were reported in Bulletin No. 119 (edition exhausted). 

 Rape has a comparatively narrow nutritive ratio, since 

 it contains a large per cent of digestible protein to the 

 per cent of digestible carbohydrates, in this respect re- 

 sembling clover and alfalfa. Animals require certain 

 quantities of these elements in their daily ration for the 

 best gains, and whether the elements are bought in the 

 market in the form of by-products of mills and factories, 

 such as linseed meal, cottonseed meal, or any other high- 

 ly proteinaceous substance, or whether it is grown on 

 the farm, the result in feeding is the same. The aver- 

 age gain per head daily for the two experiments when 

 the lambs received rape pasture alone was .34 of a 

 pound, or a larger gain than is usually made when lambs 

 are receiving a full feed of grain and hay. 



The best gains ever secured at this Station in feed- 

 ing lambs are also reported in Bulletin No. 119. It was in 

 an experiment to determine the comparative value of al- 

 falfa and prairie hay, with the same kind of a grain ra- 

 tion, for the production of a pound of gain. The grain 

 ration consisted of a mixture of 100 pounds of oats, 100 

 pounds of shelled corn and 25 pounds of oilmeal. Each 

 lot was started on one pound per head of the mixture 

 daily, and increased until they were receiving two and 

 two-tenths pounds per head of grain daily, and what hay 

 they would eat. The average gain per head daily for 

 the lot that received the alfalfa hay was .51 of a pound, 

 while with the lot that received the prairie hay the aver- 

 age gain per head daily was .38 of a pound. These 

 lambs were as near the same in weight and age as was 

 possible to get them. 



