198 Sheep-Farming 



growth. It is possible to overforce lambs by in- 

 judicious feeding with such foods as corn meal, but 

 it is seldom that this results from feeding an equal 

 mixture of bran and oil meal. When the lambs have 

 reached the age of one month, they will eat and use to 

 advantage one-half pound daily of this latter mixture. 

 Feeding ewes that are suckling lambs. — If the ewes 

 are in the shed when they are suckling their lambs, 

 it will pay to feed them with such foods as bran and 

 oats. When the ewes are on good pasture, no ad- 

 vantage results from feeding the ewes grain. In an 

 experiment with forty ewes and fifty-six lambs, the 

 writer found that the lambs did not make a greater 

 gain through feeding their dams grain when on pas- 

 ture. The sheep were divided into four lots, with ten 

 ewes and their fourteen lambs in each. In two of the 

 lots, the lambs were fed grain, and the ewes grain 

 and no grain. In the other two lots, the lambs were 

 fed no grain, and the ewes grain and no grain, re- 

 spectively. The following statement will make the 

 difference in the feeding clear : — 



Lot I. Ewes fed grain ; lambs fed grain. 

 Lot II. Ewes no grain ; lambs fed grain. 

 Lot III. Ewes fed grain ; lambs no grain. 

 Lot IV. Ewes no grain ; lambs no grain. 



The ewes in lot I ate 441 pounds of grain, and their 

 lambs ate 443.5 pounds of the same mixture. In 

 lot II, where the ewes did not receive any grain, 



