FEEDING AND CARE OF RAMS I57 



As the season for service approaches, the rams 

 should be given supplementary food. Such feeding 

 should increase gradually from the time when it is be- 

 gun until maximum amounts are fed. The feeding of 

 supplementary food should begin not less than two to 

 three weeks before service begins. The grain fed should 

 be nitrogenous, and it should not be fed to the extent of 

 producing undue fatness in the rams with the accom- 

 panying sluggishness that would result from such a con- 

 dition. Care must also be taken to feed a due propor- 

 tion of succulent food along with the grain. Such food is 

 peculiarly helpful in sustaining in proper condition the 

 organs concerned in generation. 



Rams during the season of service — The food and 

 management generally suitable for rams during the sea- 

 son of service will be much influenced by the relative size 

 and value of the flock with which they are to be mated. 

 When the flock is small, say not more than a score, there 

 may be instances in which it would be proper even to 

 allow valuable rams to remain in the pastures with the 

 flock and without extra food and care. In the case of 

 grade flocks it may be admissible to allow them to run 

 with a flock considerably larger. But when a ram is to 

 serve 50 valuable ewes, or even a larger number, he 

 should be kept in a shed with yard or paddock attached 

 and fed food that will aid in sustaining in vigorous action 

 the organs concerned in generation. In this way also 

 the ram may be prevented from wasting his energies 

 through an excess of service given to each ewe. In some 

 instances rams of the Merino type are shorn before the 

 season of service, to relieve them of the oppressive load 

 of wool which they carry. 



The food given to the rams that are in service should 

 be of high quality. Valuable rams in service are com- 

 monly kept in a comfortable apartment of a shed during 

 the day, and are allowed the liberty of a small paddock 

 or pasture at night. 



