486 Feeds and Feeding. 



fortable, and comfort is essential to the highest gains. "When suc- 

 culent feeds such as beet pulp are fed, the quarters must be espe- 

 cially well drained and the shed well bedded. If confined in quar- 

 ters sufficiently warm for dairy cows, sheep sweat badly in winter. 

 Stone basements are unsatisfactory, and if used ample ventilation 

 must be provided. Damp walls are a sure indication of lack of 

 ventilation and impending trouble. (733-4) 



788. Feed racks. — Grain and roughage should be fed separately, 

 and there should be racks in the yards sufficiently large to hold rough- 

 age for several days. If sheep are fed in close quarters the hay 

 should be supplied daily, since they dislike feed that has been "blown 

 on," as shepherds say. Grain troughs should have a wide, flat bot- 

 tom, forcing the sheep to consume the grain slowly. Fifteen inches 

 of linear trough space should be provided for each animal. Tho 

 sheep can be successfully fattened when the grain is supplied by a 

 self-feeder, they make smaller and less economical gains than where 

 the feed is given at each meal time, 



789. The various grains for fattening. — Corn is the best single 

 grain for fattening sheep, causing them to put on fat rapidly and 

 not forcing the growth of lambs, as is the case with some other con- 

 centrates. For eastern lambs 500 lbs. of corn and 400 lbs. of clover 

 hay, and for western lambs 450 lbs. of corn and 500 lbs. of alfalfa 

 hay, should produce 100 lbs. of gain where the conditions are rea- 

 sonably favorable and the fattening period not too extended. (744) 

 From these data the feeder can readily calculate the cost and possible 

 profits of fattening lambs. 



Thruout the western range district, where corn is not raised in 

 large quantities, barley is extensively used for fattening sheep and 

 lambs. This grain produces nearly as large and economical gains 

 as corn. (748) 



"Wheat is worth about 10 per ct. less than corn for sheep, tending 

 to produce growth rather than fat. It should not be fed to sheep 

 except when off; grade or low in price. Durum or macaroni wheat 

 has proved equal to bread wheat for fattening lambs. In tests at 

 the Utah Station, frosted wheat produced as large and more econom- 

 ical gains than marketable wheat. (746) The value of wheat screen- 

 ings from the elevators and mills depends entirely on their quality, 

 the light, chaffy grades having little value. Good wheat screenings 

 produce as large gains, pound for pound, as corn, when fed with 

 clover or alfalfa hay. They should be fed close to the mills or ele- 

 vators where they can be obtained without the payment of heavy 



