596 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



The Montana station in experiment- 

 ing with the feeding qualities of lambs 

 and wethers found that owing to the 

 growthy tendency of lambs their ration 

 must possess more fat producing mate- 

 rial than that of mature sheep. When 

 grain is not available the pure wethers 

 will fatten more rapidly than lambs on 

 clover or alfalfa alone. Lambs in one 

 test made 37.7 per cent gains on their 

 first weight; yearlings, 24.7 per cent; 

 two-year wethers, 20.9 per cent; and 

 ewes, 17 per cent gains on their first 

 weight, during the same feeding period. 

 The lambs required 10 pounds of air- 

 dried food to a pound of gain, the one- 

 year wethers, 16.6; two-year wethers, 17 

 pounds; and the ewes, 17.5 pounds to a 

 pound of gain. The lambs and wethers 

 shrank about 8.7 per cent of their weight 

 when shipped 1,400 miles on full feed. 

 The ewes shrank 11.3 per cent. There 

 was a profit in feeding the lambs of $1.73 

 a head; of the one-year wethers, $1.40 a 

 head; of the two-year wethers, $1.70; 

 and of the aged ewes, 1.8 cents a head. 



Wethers vs. bucks for fattening — In. 

 feeding experiments, Prof. H. W. Mum- 

 ford found that on the average, wethers 

 in 60 days gained 2.25 per cent in live 

 weight and 4 per cent in dressed weight 

 more than bucks of the same age. This 

 difference is slight and not likely to be 

 constant. 



Locoed sheep — Frequently under west- 

 ern conditions sheep eat plants known as 

 loco weed, mostly species of astragalus. 

 This has the effect of making them act 

 in a drunken manner, difficult to man- 

 age, and undesirable feeders. Such sheep 

 are known as locoed sheep. At the 

 Montana station a band of 29 locoed 

 sheep were fed 123 days and gained as 

 rapidly and made as economical gains as 

 a band of healthy wethers. 



Putting sheep on fattening rations — 

 Lambs that have received grain at pas- 

 ture are easily put on fattening rations 

 when shut up in the feeding yards. Be- 

 ginning with about }4 pound of grain 

 daily, or perhaps more if the lambs have 

 been receiving larger rations than this 

 while at pasture, the amount may be 

 gradually increased at the rate of about 

 J /4 pound a week until the end of the 

 fourth week when they may be getting 

 1V± pounds of grain a head daily. At 

 the end of the eighth week, they should 

 be getting l 1 /^ to 2 pounds a head daily. 

 It will seldom be advisable to feed more 



at any time during the feeding experi- 

 ment than 2 pounds a head. 



In very cold weather, the amount of 

 grain fed can be slightly increased, de- 

 creasing again when a warm spell sets 

 in. 



The bulk of the lambs put in the fat- 

 tening pens have never been fed grain 

 and do not know what it is. With such 

 lambs not more than one-tenth to one- 

 sixth pound of grain should be fed daily 

 a head in the beginning of the fattening 

 period. This amount may be slowly in- 

 creased to about 1 pound of grain in four 

 to six weeks and this grain gradually in- 

 creased until they are receiving as much 

 at the end of eight to 12 weeks as lambs 

 fed grain at pasture. The shepherd 

 watches the feeding of each lamb daily 

 and so regulates the amount that they 

 are always ready for their feed and their 

 appetites never cloy. Should they lose 

 their appetites by over feeding it may 

 require six weeks or more to get them 

 back on feed again, during which time 

 they will have gained nothing or actually 

 lost in weight to the great loss of the 

 feeder. 



Fattening rations_For fattening 

 lambs or for older sheep that have made 

 their growth, a ration having a nutri- 

 tive ratio of 1 :6 or 1 :8 is best. What- 

 ever the nutritive ratio either for lambs 

 or sheep, the ration compounded should 

 be palatable. Rations the sheep eat with 

 relish are most effective in producing 

 gains whatever the nutritive ratio. The 

 character of the grain fed will depend 

 in large measure on the kind of rough- 

 age available. With clover, alfalfa, cow- 

 pea, or other leguminous hays or rough- 

 age rich in protein, no single grain 

 either for lambs or older sheep will be 

 found superior to corn for fattening 

 purposes. On the average, it takes about 

 500 pounds of corn and 400 pounds of 

 leguminous hay to produce 100 pounds 

 of gain. 



The amount of grain to feed in the 

 ration will depend upon the price of the 

 grain, and the rapidity of gain desired. 

 When grain is high and rapid gain 

 not a matter of importance, less grain 

 may be fed and the roughage increased 

 proportionately. Generally speaking, the 

 more gain that can be made on cheap 

 roughage, the greater will the profits be. 

 Many feeders never give over 1 pound of 

 corn a head daily, when feeding such 

 material as good alfalfa or clover hay. 



