Character of Increase of Fattening tifieep 351 



sheep are based upon the analyses by Lawes & Gilbert 

 of animals in various states of fatness. These inves- 

 tigators analyzed a "store" sheep, a "fat" sheep and a 

 "very fat" sheep, and from the figures thus obtained 

 are calculated the increase in two stages of fattening: 



Composition of increase of fattening sheep 



Dry 



substance Ash Protein Fat 



% % % % 



Increase from "store" to "fat" condition 78. 2.12 7.16 68.8 

 Increase from "fat" to "very fat" condition. 81. 8 3.12 7.75 70.9 



A comparison with the increase of fattening oxen 

 shows that the sheep stores the larger proportion of 

 fat in the dry substance laid on. 



Sheep liberally fed give a larger increase per 1,000 

 Ibs. live weight than steers. With animals weighing 

 from 75 to 150 Ibs. each the daily gain with good 

 management may range from .2 to .5 Ib. per head, 

 or from 2 to 5 Ibs. per 1,000 Ibs., live weight, the 

 increase varying according to age, conditions and lib- 

 erality of feeding. Lambs will sometimes greatly ex- 

 ceed the above maximum. If we base our estimates 

 upon what will occur with the maturer animals, a num- 

 ber of lambs or sheep weighing 1,000 Ibs., perhaps 

 seven, perhaps twice as many, will store daily .15 to 

 .40 Ib. of protein and from 1.4 to 3.5 Ibs. of fat. 



FOOD NEEDS OF FATTENING SHEEP 



After long -continued and careful experiments in 

 feeding a fattening ration to mature sheep, whose 

 composition was investigated at various stages of 



