SHEEP BREEDING AND FEEDING. 11 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BREEDING FLOCK. 



The sheep used in this test were taken to Spur, Dickens County, dur- 

 ing the latter part of September, 1914, and were grazed upon the native 

 grass pastures, which consisted principally of grama, mesquite and 

 buffalo grasses. As this pasture land had not been heavily grazed 

 earlier in the year and as the growing season had been most favorable, 

 the grass was plentiful. During the fall of 1914 the rainfall in Dickens 

 County was excessive and upon several occasions the flock had to be 

 kept under the sheds and supplied with Sudan hay. These ewes having 

 been raised under range conditions did not take readily to the hay and 

 shelter, but in the course of a few weeks they were more successfully 

 managed in this respect. 



During a period of two weeks previous to the inception of the lamb- 

 ing, the ewes due to lamb shortly were separated from the main portion 

 of the flock and supplied with a ration of threshed milo and Sudan hay, 

 one-half pound of the milo and threshed Sudan hay being supplied per 

 head daily. As the season progressed heavy ewes were added to the 

 pen a few days previous to parturition. 



During the latter portion of March and all through April the ewes 

 and young lambs were grazed for a few hours daily on a small patch 

 of winter wheat which had been sown between the trees in the Station 

 orchard the preceding fall. The ewes did splendidly on this green 

 forage crop and as a result of the increased milk flow the young lambs 

 made rapid growth during this period. 



There was no more green wheat available for grazing after May 1, 

 and accordingly the grazing was again limited to the native grasses. 

 The spring season had been a little backward and in order to keep the 

 ewes in a thrifty condition so as to properly nourish the lambs, a half- 

 pound of threshed milo was supplied daily until June 17, after which 

 time the grain allowance was discontinued. 



The lambs were given access to the lamb "creep" throughout the 

 summer and were supplied with one-quarter of a pound per head daily 

 of a mixture of one part of cotton seed meal to six parts of threshed milo. 

 This amount of concentrates was small, but it helped materially in 

 keeping the lambs in a fair growing condition during the long hot 

 summer months. 



Salt was liberally supplied to the flock throughout the entire test. 

 A simple and yet novel salt trough was constructed by the writer, the 

 object in mind being to perfect a trough, a portion of which after having 

 been smeared with pine tar would leave some of this liquid on the nose 

 and face of the individual sheep as they came daily to the troughs to 

 lick the salt. The object in mind was to keep the gad-fly away from 

 the nasal cavities of the different members of the flock by means of the 

 repel] ant odor of the pine tar. The trough above mentioned is of simple 

 construction, yet effective. Brieflv, it was nothing more than a trough 

 four inches deep by six inches wide by four feet in length. At a dis- 

 tance of three inches from the bottom of the trough was placed a board 



