FEEDING SHEEP AND GOATS 



329 



with wheat bran, oats, or linseed meal fed in varying proportions, 

 according to the character of the available roughage and the market 

 prices of the feeds, makes up the majority of the rations fed ; other 

 feeds are cotton-seed meal, soybeans, peas, and, of rough feeds, 

 roots or silage, alfalfa or clover hay, corn fodder, etc. The lambs 

 are often fattened in two droves in the corn belt, the first one being 

 purchased in November and fed until the end of January, when 

 the second lot is purchased and fattened by the first of May. 



In the western States extensive lamb and sheep feeding opera- 

 tions are carried on each year (Figs. 91, 92, 93, 94). The sheep are 

 usually separated into flocks of about 500 each and fed in lots 



Fia. 93. — Lamb-feeding corrals in Idaho. (Iddings.) 



arranged in rows with feeding lanes between. No shelter is pro- 

 vided except what may be furnished by a hay or straw stack. The 

 sheep are brought from the high summer ranges to these feeding 

 points where alfalfa hay is available, and are fed all the hay they 

 will eat until they are shipped. If grain is fed, they are given 

 three-fourths to one pound daily per head, generally Indian corn, 

 or barley or wheat in the far western States. Experiments at the 

 New Mexico station 10 show that by an addition of corn to alfalfa 

 hay an improved quality of mutton was obtained and the feeding 

 period was shortened. The general conclusion drawn is that, with 



10 Bulletin 79. 



