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FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



reached the length of 1 or 2 inches, and 

 at a slightly cheaper rate than unshorn 

 lambs. When, however, the fattening 

 period extended over a period of three 

 or four months, there appeared to be no 

 practical advantage whatever in fall 

 shearing. The unshorn lambs made as 

 good gains in the long run as the shorn 

 lambs and the increased length of the 

 wool fiber counterbalanced in value the 

 slightly greater weight of wool from the 

 lambs sheared both in the fall and in 

 the spring. 



In experiments at the South Dakota 

 station, lambs that had been fed 16 

 weeks and were ripe for market were 

 shorn and fed heavily four weeks longer. 

 Practically no return whatever was ob- 

 tained for the grain fed and conse- 

 quently all the food, labor and risk in- 

 volved in keeping the sheep during this 

 extra period was a total loss. There 

 seems to be nothing gained from taking 

 off the fleece after the sheep have 

 reached ripeness and are ready for mar- 

 ket, from the standpoint of securing 

 further gains. When the sheep were 

 sheared earlier in the season, greater 

 gains were made during two years' ex- 

 periments than were made by unshorn 

 lambs. 



The Michigan station also reports an 

 experiment in which lambs were fed for 

 13 weeks, then sheared and kept in a 

 warm barn for three weeks longer. In 

 this case they made slightly increased 

 gains. In another test, however, when 

 they were sheared in December and fed 

 until the latter part of February, they 

 suffered considerably from cold, required 

 more feed to make a pound of gain and 

 made less total gains than unshorn 

 lambs. 



The conclusions from these experi- 

 ments seem to be that, under ordinary 

 conditions, it is not advisable to shear 

 lambs with the expectation of securing 

 an increased profit on the greater gains 

 they will make. If lambs are shorn, they 

 should be shorn as early in the season as 

 October, rather than later when they 

 suffer from the cold of winter. 



Sheltsr for fattening sheep — Sheep 

 can be successfully fattened out of doors 

 without shelter, but more economical 

 and rapid gains are made when shelter 

 from rain and snow is provided. Under 

 western conditions, where sheep are fed 

 in large feeding lots by the thousands, 

 for only a limited period, they are fed 



out of doors, the cost of putting up the 

 sheds being more expensive than any 

 slight increase in gain the sheep might 

 make. 



Another question which is frequently 

 asked is whether it is advisable to keep 

 fattening sheep closely confined in pens 

 or to allow them to run in yards part of 

 the time for exercise. The reports on 

 this phase of the question are conflict- 

 ing. In two tests at the Wisconsin sta- 

 tion, exercise gave the best results in one 

 instance and confinement in the other. 

 In fattening hothouse lambs for market, 

 one of the largest feeders in the West 

 states that the lambs are kept confined 

 entirely after they go into winter 

 quarters. 



Satisfactory conditions will be found 

 in the use of open sheds with compara- 

 tively small yards for exercise. The 

 pens or sheds may be cheap structures 

 with earth floors, and a little litter 

 sprinkled over each day to keep the pens 

 clean. Where succulent foods like sugar 

 beet pulp are fed, good drainage about 

 the yard should be had so they can be 

 kept dry, clean and comfortable. 



Self-feed for fattening sheep — By 

 self-feed is meant an arrangement by 

 which sheep can supply themselves with 

 grain at any time. It is a convenient 

 way to feed grain to sheep, since all that 

 is required is to see that the feed is sup- 

 plied with grain at all times. 



At the Michigan station, lambs fat- 

 tened with a self-feed made an average 

 weekly gain of 1.87 pounds a head, and 

 required 9.57 pounds of dry feed to pro- 

 duce a pound of gain. Other lambs fed 

 the same rations under like conditions, 

 but at regular intervals, according to the 

 usual practice, gained 2.28 pounds a 

 head a week and required but 6.97 

 pounds of dry feed for I pound of gain. 

 The Minnesota station reports like re- 

 sults. 



The difficulty with the self-feed seems 

 to be that the feed is nosed over and be- 

 comes stale and as such is not relished 

 to as great an extent as fresh feed. The 

 results show that while lambs can be 

 successfully fattened with a self-feed, it 

 is more expensive and smaller gains are 

 made than when they are fed at regu- 

 lar intervals. By the latter method, 

 also, closer attention can be given to the 

 variations of the appetites of the lambs 

 than the self-feed permits. 



