98 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



seldom taste grain at all, but eat instead grass, 

 hay and roots, mainly swede turnips. Here, 

 where roots ai-e not so easily grown and fed 

 (excepting in Canada and northern America), 

 moa'e reliance is put upon grain, and with care 

 in feeding it may take the place very well. 



A sensible treatment of the ewe that lambs 

 in winter is to keep her mostly on clover or 

 aitalfa hay until after her lamb comes. There 

 will be no need to limit the amount of hay that 

 she consumes after lambing and then when 

 her lamb takes all her milk and wishes more, 

 begin feeding her a little wheat bran. For a 

 week bran will suffice, gradually increasing 

 the amount fed, then there may be added to 

 it a little chopped com or barley and a little 

 later some oilmeal. A pound a day of this 

 mixture will keep her in good milk flow and 

 must be gradually led up to for about ten 

 days. 



The right proportions of this mixture are 

 about 100 lbs. of wheat bran, 100 lbs. of 

 chopped corn and 20 lbs. of oilmeal. This 

 with clover or alfalfa hay will push her to 

 a very heavy milk flow. If she is a large ewe 

 she may consume more than a pound to ad- 

 vantage, as much as two pounds being con- 

 sumed by some large Dorset ewes belonging to 

 the writer. 



If this feed is so gradually introduced to 

 the ewe that her digestion is not disturbed 

 nor her milk flow stimulated too much at first, 

 there is small danger of overfeeding her, sup- 

 posing that the lamb is to be pushed for eafly 



