24 FARMERS BULLETIN 840, 



THE FORAGE-CROP METHOD. 



The practice of grazing the flock on forage crops until the lambs 

 are sold is becoming popular where lands are high in price and 

 where stomach worms cause trouble. Under this plan the ewes and 

 lambs are first grazed on fall-sown wheat or rye. The land is 

 divided to avoid the necessity of keeping the flock longer than 10 

 days upon the same ground. By the time the second lot of this 

 crop is grazed down, spring-sown peas and oats can be ready and the 

 fall- wheat ground plowed and reseeded to another cereal or to rape 

 or soy beans for later use. Such a plan requires some labor in pre- 

 paring and seeding the land, but it produces the largest amount of 

 feed per acre and prevents trouble from the stomach worms. 



In 1915 three lots of ewes with lambs were reared at the Illinois 

 Experiment Station to test the value of the grass-pastures, dry-lot 

 and forage-crop methods. All of the lambs were dropped about the 

 middle of March. The lambs running on grass ate an average of 

 0.3 pound of grain per head daily from March 27 to July 15, those 

 in the dry lot 0.7 pound, and those on forages 0.3 pound. The gains 

 made and the market value of the lambs when sold are shown in the 

 following table: 



Comparison of three methods, of feeding lambs at the Illinois Experiment 



Station, 1915. 



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