General Care of Sheep and Lambs. 487 



freight bills. If possible, corn should be mixed with screenings or 

 wheat for lamb-fattening, since they tend to growth as well as to 

 fattening. (752) 



Where oats are low in price they may be used for sheep feeding 

 and will produce excellent mutton. Like wheat, oats conduce to 

 growth, and hence it is best to mix corn with them for fattening 

 lambs. (747) 



Lamb-feeding trials in the Western states show that emmer (speltz) 

 has nearly as great feeding value, pound for pound, as corn when 

 fed with alfalfa hay. At the South Dakota Station^ when fed with 

 mixed brome and prairie hay emmer was worth about two-thirds as 

 much as barley for lambs. (749) 



Experiments at the Kansas Station- show that kafir has about the 

 same feeding value as corn for sheep. Where extensively grown it 

 is a valuable and economical substitute for that grain. (183) 



790. Feeds rich in protein. — Linseed meal, cotton-seed meal, and 

 gluten feed are concentrates rich in crude protein, which may some- 

 times be profitably mixed with corn or other grains for fattening 

 lambs. Lambs should never receive more than half a pound of lin- 

 seed or cotton-seed meal per head daily, and one-eighth or one- 

 fourth lb., in combination with other concentrates, would prove 

 much more satisfactory. (754) 



Field peas and soybeans, also rich in crude protein, are usually 

 too expensive to form the entire concentrate allowance for fattening 

 lambs. Excellent results have been obtained by mixing either of 

 these feeds with corn or other grains. (750, 753) 



Experiments show that bran is not especially suitable for fatten- 

 ing sheep, a large quantity being required for a given gain. Like 

 wheat and oats, bran induces growth rather than fattening, and its 

 bulky character is also against it, tho a limited quantity may be use- 

 ful, as it is greatly relished by sheep. 



791. Grinding- grain. — Of all the farm animals the sheep is best 

 able to do its own grinding, and with few exceptions whole grain 

 only should be furnished. The common saying of feeders, "a sheep 

 which cannot grind its own grain is not worth feeding," is a truth- 

 ful one. Valuable breeding sheep wdth poor teeth may be continued 

 in usefulness by being fed ground grain. In certain cases grinding 

 may prove beneficial. At the Colorado Station^ Cooke, when feed- 

 ing western sheep on wheat, observed that much of the grain passed 

 thru the animals unbroken. At the South Dakota Station* Wilson 



^Buls. 71, 86. = Bui. 32. 



^ Breeder 'a Gazette, Vol. 51. * Bui. 86. 



