MAIZE GRAIN AS FOOD 725 



ward, grazing as they go. . . . By the time the maize is ripe CHAP, 

 the sheep have reached some point where it is for sale in vast XIV - 

 quantities and at a low price. A corral or enclosure is made 

 of pickets, and into this the sheep are driven, to remain until 

 fattened. . . . Often 20,000 to 30,000, divided into a few 

 bunches, are fed at a single point. Wild hay [i.e. veld hay] 

 is unloaded against the picket fence through which the sheep 

 feed ; the only labour in handling the hay after unloading 

 is for an attendant to keep it moved up close to the fence. 

 In addition, from i-J to 2 bushels of maize [84 to 112 lbs.], 

 fed in troughs, are required per day for every 100 head 

 of sheep. To this is usually added a few pounds of oil 

 meal (linseed or cotton-seed). The feeding continues about 

 100 days, the sheep gaining on an average 15 lbs. per head 

 during that time. The profit comes mainly from increasing 

 the original value of the sheep. The industry is an irregular 

 and uncertain one. . . . The profit depends upon the price of 

 maize, which varies greatly from year to year and cannot be 

 foretold much in advance of the time for feeding. Large 

 numbers of Montana sheep are fed in much the same manner, 

 in Minnesota, on the screenings from mills and elevators, this 

 feed proving excellent for the purpose. Because of bits of 

 straw and chaff in the screenings, fattening sheep do not 

 surfeit so easily on them as on maize grain, and they may 

 even be fed on the screenings without giving any hay in 

 addition. 



A large proportion of the slaughter sheep of the United 

 States are fattened on maize grain. The Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 and Minnesota Stations have studied the ration of maize 

 grain and hay required for fattening lambs ; they found that 

 lambs averaging 81 lbs. each, during feeding trials averaging 

 thirteen weeks in length, made gains of ^ lb. per head 

 daily, requiring about 500 lbs. of maize grain and 400 lbs. 

 of hay for 100 lbs. increase in live weight (Henry, 1). The 

 average daily ration of the 45 lambs tested was 1-42 lbs. of 

 maize and 1 -03 lbs. of hay per lamb. The highest average 

 daily gain was obtained with the highest average daily ration 

 of maize (1-53 lbs.) ; this ration was also the most economical, 

 for it required the smallest weight of both maize and hay to 

 produce 100 lbs. live weight. 



Except in rare cases (such as valuable breeding sheep with 



