FORM IN WHICH FEEDS SHOULD BE GIVEN 375 



fattening sheep and lambs having sound teeth. Apparently the 

 reason for this is that the sheep so thoroughly masticates its feed 

 that very little of it passes into the stomach without being pre- 

 pared for the various processes of digestion. It may be of some 

 advantage to grind very small or unusually hard seeds if the grind- 

 ing does not make them less palatable. Faville ^ in feeding bald 

 or hulless barley to lambs noticed that some of it was passed undi- 

 gested; and Coohel at the Kansas Station secured a given amount 

 of gain from less feed with ground kafir than with whole kafir com. 



Grinding seems to reduce rather than increase the palatability 

 of grain. If not consumed soon after grinding it is likely to 

 become rancid or musty, and even if it is fresh it is usually not eaten 

 with so much relish as whole grain because it gets into the nostrils 

 and also forms a pasty mass inside the mouth. Cooke ° found the 

 latter to be an objection to ground bald barley. 



A heavy grain like com should be ground when it is to be 

 mixed with lighter feeds and placed in self-feeders. If whole 

 corn were mixed with chaffed hay or with wheat screenings, it is 

 possible for the animals to sort out the corn and leave the other 

 feed, or vice versa. Even when whole corn and whole oats form 

 a mixture, it is possible for the animals to take one and leave 

 the other. 



Under the conditions in which most sheep feeding is done, 

 corn is most convenient to use when it is in the shelled form, but 

 it can be used as ear corn, shock corn, or ground corn. When it 

 forms the sole concentrate in the ration, grinding never improves 

 its feeding value for sheep able to masticate it. "When fed as 

 com-and-cob meal, the cob replaces a little hay, but the total 

 feeding value of the corn is red'uced. Ear com is as efficient 

 as shelled corn for producing gain, but when feeding in lots or 

 sheds it is difficult to keep the sheep from wasting feed by dropping 

 some of the ears on the ground and there is a tendency for the 

 ears to roll up and bunch up so that there is an unequal distribution 

 of feed in the troughs. Shock com is better suited to feeding on 

 grass sod than in bams or lots. When placed in racks the ears 

 are likely to be very unevenly distributed. 



At the Illinois Station the writer conducted an experiment in 



"Wyoming Station Bulletin 103. 

 "Colorado Station Bulletin 40. 



