FEEDING AND CARE OF SHEEP 333 



hauled down the lanes and piled along the fences, being pushed up to 

 them 2 or 3 times a day as it is eaten away. 



All lots are provided with flat-bottomed troughs for feeding grain. 

 There is an extra or vacant lot at one end of each row of lots, likewise 

 provided with troughs. At feeding time grain is placed in the 

 troughs of this extra lot and the lambs from the adjoining lot are 

 turned in. As soon as a lot is vacated, grain is put in the troughs 

 of this lot, and the lambs enter from the next lot, and so on. At the 

 next meal feeding begins by using the vacant lot at the other end of 

 the row, reversing the process. The feeding yards are usually located 

 on streams or ditches which supply running water. Those on high 

 ground have watering troughs into which the water is pumped. Salt 

 is liberally furnished in troughs. 



Feeding small bands. — Fattening great numbers of lambs at a 

 single point reached its height years ago when corn and wheat screen- 

 ings ruled low in price, and the large operator had little competition 

 from the ranchman and farmer in finishing range lambs for the mar- 

 ket. Now the price of feed has increased, and the fattening of range 

 lambs in smaller bands has rapidly developed in the western states, 

 in the corn belt, and farther eastward. Most fortunately for a con- 

 servative agriculture, the large operator, who often receives no ben- 

 efit from the great accumulation of rich manure in the feed lot, can- 

 not compete with the farmer who fattens one or more carloads of lambs 

 and uses the manure for enriching his land. Prudent farmers rightly 

 hold that enough fertility is returned to their land thru the feed lot 

 to pay the entire labor cost of feeding. As sheep and lamb fattening 

 on range and farm increases, the gradual decline of the old feed lot is 

 assured. 



Yield of dressed carcasses; shrinkage. — The slaughter tests at the 

 various stations show that lambs and yearlings dress from 48 to 57 

 per ct., depending on how completely they are fattened. Shaw 6 

 states that fattened lambs weighing over 100 lbs., when 4 days in 

 transit, will shrink 7 to 8 lbs. per head ; 1-year-old wethers weighing 

 about 120 lbs., approximately 10 lbs. ; and aged wethers and ewes 

 about 12 lbs. per head. When sheep are marketed off pasture, es- 

 pecially rape, excessive shrinkage from scouring may be prevented by 

 giving only dry feed for a day or more before shipping. The con- 

 centrate allowance should be decreased for the same reason, and oats 

 are the best grain for sheep in transit. 



Hot house lambs. — During recent years an increasing demand has 

 developed for winter or "hot house" lambs. The term "hot house" 

 does not imply that the lambs are raised in artificially heated quar- 



b Management and Feeding of Sheep, p. 365. 



