4 BULLETIN 996, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The amount of grain fed was never less than one-half pound per 

 ewe daily; in a few cases it was as much as three-fourths of a pound. 

 The grain mixture used is given in Table 1. The gains shown are 

 the averages for each lot, each ewe's gain covering the period 

 from one to two weeks prior to the dates the rams were first used up 

 to the date of the service to which she lambed. 



It was planned to hold the unflushed lots without making any gains 

 in weight during the breeding season. Except in the case of Lots 1 1 

 and 14, the pasturage was the same for the flushed and unflushed lots. 

 There was considerable irregularity in the gains of individual ewes. 

 Some of those in the unflushed lots made quite large gains, while 

 some in the flushed lots made little or no gain. However, the fact 

 of having grain feed may be considered to result in a more highly 

 nourished body condition, even if not reflected in gains in weight. 



In all the Vermont flock tests, all lots were run on blue-grass pas- 

 tures. All the lots in the Maryland flock were grazed on forage 

 crops, soy beans being chiefly used during the breeding season. 



NUMBER OF LAMBS DROPPED. 



An average increase of 18.1 per cent in the number of lambs dropped 

 was obtained as a result of flushing in the experiments here reported. 

 This figure applies to 302 lambings of 143 different ewes used in the 

 fall breeding seasons of 1916 to 1920, inclusive, and includes the total 

 number of lambs dropped, living or dead, the percentage being based 

 on the number of ewes having lambs. 



As shown in Table 1, the smallest result from flushing obtained in 

 any one of the separate trials was 3.2 per cent. This was in the case 

 of Lots 5 and 6, bred at the Morgan Horse Farm, Middlebury, Vt., in 

 the fall of 1917. Both lots of ewes were in very good condition and 

 ran on similar grass pastures. Although fed grain (14 parts corn, 5 

 parts bran, 1 part linseed-oil meal) at the rate of one-half pound each 

 daily, the flushed lot made an average gain of only 6.3 pounds per 

 head from September 10 until they were in lamb, while in the corre- 

 sponding time the ewes not fed grain gained 4.6 pounds per head. 



The most pronounced effects of flushing are seen by comparing 

 Lot 3 with Lot 4 and Lot 9 with Lots 10 and 11. In the case of Lots 

 3 and 4, both of which were in quite low condition when breeding 

 commenced, there was an increased gain of 12.38 pounds in weight in 

 the flushed over the unflushed lot and an increase of 30 per cent in 

 lambs dropped. In the second instance the 15 unflushed ewes (Lot 

 9) gained 3.03 pounds each from September 10 to the time of getting 

 in lamb, the average date of which was October 5. This lot produced 

 120 per cent of lambs. During the same time 150 per cent of lambs 

 was yielded from a lot of 14 ewes (Lot 10) receiving grain, and 145.5 

 per cent for 11 ewes (Lot 11) kept on sufficiently good pasture to 

 cause them to gain 10.96 pounds each from September 10 untilln 

 lamb, the average date being October 14. 



