FEEDING AND FATTENING. 85^ 



advantage being their ability to fatten quickly, adapt themselves 

 to different climates, and being small in carcass, rarely weighing, 

 over ninety-five pounds when prime, they fetch the top market 

 price, being eagerly bought by the butcher on account of the 

 small amount of waste in killing, white fat and finely flavored 

 mutton. 



These sheep are generally boiight by a commission buyer, 

 who distributes them around to his customers. As soon as they 

 arrive at the feeding pens they are given all the hay (alfalfa if 

 obtainable) they will eat. Then after the first week they are 

 put on ration of oats, commencing with a small quantity, which 

 is gradually increased iintil at the end of the fourth week they 

 are eating about a povmd per day to the head. Corn then is 

 gradually introduced with the oats, the feed of oats being cut 

 down at5 the corn is substituted until the sheep are on corn only, 

 eating about one-half pound a head per day at the end of the 

 sixth week. Trom now on the corn is slowly increased till full 

 feed is reached, which means just what they will clean up with- 

 out leaving any in the feeding trough?. It is a good plan once 

 a week, every Saturday for instance, to substitute oats for the 

 corn. The sheep will be found to relish the change and come 

 back to their corn next day with a renewed desire for it. 



Rock salt should be kept in the pens at all times. They 

 should be watered twice a day, excepting in very cold weather, 

 when once will be sufficient. This should always be prior to 

 feeding. The feeding should be done at regular hours. For 

 instance, if a pen is fed at 4 o'clock P. M. one day, it should be 

 fed at the same time or as near that time as possible every day. 

 Regularity in feeding will be found very essential to success. 

 This is the general method of feeding Mexican lambs in the 

 Western States, where no sheds are required, where the air is 

 dry and climate uniform. During the last year a number of 

 Mexican lambs have been imported into the Eastern States to 



