378 FACTORS AFFECTING GAIN IN FATTENING 



merited so that a nitrogenous concentrate such as linseed oil meal 

 or cottonseed meal forms about 15 per cent of the concentrate part 

 of the ration. 



Apparently sheep are adapted to making good use of compara- 

 tively large quantities of protein. At the Illinois Station, Carroll 7 

 fed three lots of lambs from the time they were old enough to eat 

 grain until they were about ten months old as follows : 



Concentrates ~\ Roughage 



Lot 1, Corn 50 per cent; linseed oil meal 50 per cent ( Alfalfa in green 

 Lot 2, Corn 75 per cent; linseed oil meal 25 per cent [ , to 



Lot 3, Corn 95 per cent; linseed oil meal 5 per cent ) ary * 



The lambs given the largest quantity of protein were the heaviest 

 and they were thrifty in every respect. But owing to the high 

 price of linseed oil meal, the cost of growth was greater than in 

 the lots where more corn was consumed. 



The Lemar Brothers of South Omaha, Nebraska, after years 

 of experience in feeding lambs on a large scale have come to use 

 a ration composed of linseed oil meal and prairie hay. The oil 

 meal is placed in self-feeders and the lambs are brought in direct 

 from the market and' allowed to eat all they want. After about 

 two weeks have elapsed, the self-feeders are filled with a mixture 

 half corn and half linseed oil meal. This ration which seems to be so 

 greatly overbalanced with protein is regarded by the Lemar 

 Brothers as the best they have ever used. They get very rapid 

 gains and the lambs are ready for market after a short period 

 of feeding. They report a little larger percentage of losses since 

 they have adopted this system, but these are more than offset by 

 the increased rate of gain over other methods they have employed. 

 The larger losses are not due to the large percentage of protein 

 in the feed, but rather to the fact that the lambs are allowed to 

 eat all they want of a heavy concentrate from the beginning of 

 the feeding period. 



On the other hand, skillful Michigan feeders, when feeding corn 

 or salvage, use equal quantities of straw and legume hay. That is, 

 they give hay at one feeding and straw at the other, and they 

 think that they get as good results as they do when they use 

 legume hay altogether as roughage. 



T Doctor's thesis, under direction of Prof. Grindley. 



