FATTENING SHEEP WHILE GRAZING 20I 



fore, resolves itself into one of the greatest relative profit. 

 Such grazing could be used in fattening, a grain supple- 

 ment being added, or it could be used to furnish grazing 

 for ewes nursing milk lambs. Corn would furnish a good 

 supplemental grain food. 



The grazing of roots upon grain fields has already 

 been touched upon (see page 191). Of course, it would 

 be quite practicable to harvest entire crops of roots by 

 such a system, but the land that will grow the roots will 

 also grow rape, and the latter may be grown with much 

 less outlay for labor than the former. 



Finishing sheep on other crops — It would seem quite 

 practicable to finish sheep on some other crops not enu- 

 merated above, or if it were not desired to finish the sheep 

 they could be made to feed on these crops and thereby 

 contribute greatly to the fertilization of the land. Prom- 

 inent among these crops are cowpeas, soy beans and 

 pumpkins and squashes. 



Cowpeas may be grown over wide areas in the South 

 after other early maturing crops have been reaped. The 

 value of the grazing will increase with the volume of the 

 crop and, up to a certain limit, with the advanced stage of 

 growth. Supplementary grain should be supplied when 

 necessary for fattening, and corn is very suitable for such 

 a use. Soy beans would seem to answer the purpose bet- 

 ter than cowpeas, as they produce more grain to the straw 

 than cowpeas. They are also of upright growth, and the 

 pods are near to one another, hence they are of easy access 

 to the sheep. Sheep should fatten quickly on such graz- 

 ing, but experience on the question has up to the present 

 been practically unattainable. Those who have fed 

 pumpkins to sheep are loud in their praises. They claim 

 that when used to pumpkins, no limit may be set to the 

 quantities fed, as long as they are consumed so as to avoid 

 waste. They are specially helpful to sheep and lambs 

 that are being pushed forward on corn. They are more 

 commonly strewn over grass pastures when fed. At the 



