Fattening Sheep 253 



sidered an unsafe feed for sheep, it has an important 

 place in economical sheep husbandry. Special pre- 

 cautions are necessary to avoid feeding of spoiled 

 silage, as the effects of deterioration are much more 

 pronounced with sheep than with cattle. Silage 

 from corn rather well matured is desirable for sheep. 

 Owing to the sheep's limited capacity, there is danger 

 in not making proper allowance for the grain in the 

 silage, especially when the main grain ration is a 

 liberal one, and as a result diflSculties arise not prop- 

 erly attributable to the silage. In most of the sheep- 

 feeding experiments in which silage was used, it was 

 compared with roots. At the Iowa Station a ration 

 of 2 pounds grain, 1.6 pounds alfalfa, and 1.4 pounds 

 silage was found to produce the same gain and at a 

 much lower cost than the same grain and alfalfa 

 with 4.3 pounds mangels in place of 1.4 pounds silage. 

 Silage was fed at the Michigan Station in tests last- 

 ing 119 days, and 3.4 pounds fed daily produced 

 larger and cheaper gains than 5.6 pounds rutabagas. 

 Fattening lambs on rape. — There are exceptional 

 possibilities in well-grown rape for fattening lambs, 

 if it is fed with proper judgment and care. It may 

 be fed to best advantage in the early fall, and hence 

 is of valuable assistance in fattening lambs for the 

 fall or early winter market. It supplies a vast 

 amount of food that the lambs are very fond of, and 

 as it withstands drought and early frost better 

 than most succulent fodders, it is a crop that may be 



