134 Sheep Management, Breeds and Judging. 



at the Iowa Experiment Station have shown this 

 to be true. The writer in his earlier years, not 

 having had as much experience as he should have 

 had, learned costly lessons by feeding these roots 

 to rams and wethers and consequently losing a 

 number of good, high-priced animals. Mangels and 

 sugar beets contain some alkali substances which 

 affect the kidneys and foi'm gravel stones in the 

 kidneys and bladder, stopping up the passage of 

 the urinary canal. When this passage is blocked, 

 rams and wethers suffer terribly and die within 

 forty-eight hours, at most, on account of the burst- 

 ing of the bladder. 



While these roots have proven so fatal to rams 

 and wethers the writer has fed mangels and sugar 

 beets extensively during many seasons to breed- 

 ing ewes and has never experienced any trouble 

 therefrom. This is probably due to the fact that 

 in rams and wethers the urinary canal is no more 

 than about one-sixteenth inch in diameter, and the 

 small stones forming in the bladder cannot pass 

 through the canal. The ewes, however, have a 

 much larger urinary canal, permitting the escape 

 of the stones. 



FLUSHING THE EWES. 



A breeding ewe, if expected to uphold her vital- 

 ity and vigor, needs a vacation once a year. She 

 may have been a good mother, a heavy milker, and 



