MILK LAMBS : HOW TO GET, GROW AND MARKET ^53 



ing food should be fed. Such feeding would only be 

 necessary when two crops of lambs are desired in one 

 year, which under conditions such as are found in north- 

 ern areas is not desirable, as the tax is so severe upon the 

 breeding powers of dams that ere long it would result in 

 deterioration. 



Disposing of the dams — When the dams are to be 

 sold soon after the sale of the lambs, they must be given 

 freely such food as will fatten them quickly. When thus 

 fattened they will sell for a better price than could be ob- 

 tained for them if sold later, as the competition in mut- 

 ton in the market is less severe in the spring season when 

 such ewes may reach the market than it would be later. 



For some time previous to the selling of the lambs, 

 these ewes should be fed more grain that is fattening in 

 its nature, as corn, than would be necessary for ewes that 

 are to be retained for breeding, but this food should not 

 be fed to them to the extent of hindering free milk pro- 

 duction for the sustenance of the lambs. 



As soon as the ewes that are to be sold are dried off 

 they should be pushed, so to speak, for the block. They 

 can stand such high feeding for a time, as they have, in 

 a manner, been accustomed to it before the lambs were 

 weaned. Corn will furnish the cheapest concentrate for 

 such fattening in corn-growing areas ; but, of course, 

 other food, as oats or wheat bran, should be fed along with 

 it. Ewes may be finished more quickly before than after 

 the turning out season, because of the temporary loss of 

 weight that usually follows turning animals out on grass, 

 but it may under some conditions be more costly than fin- 

 ishing on grass. 



Growing milk lambs from grazing — The areas 

 adapted to growing milk lambs chiefly from grazing are 

 somewhat limited in the United States, and they can 

 scarcely be said to exist at all in Canada. They are con- 

 fined to portions of the Gulf States and to limited areas 

 along the Pacific coast, but in states further north than 



