FEEDING FOR MEAT 371 



The above rations are well up to the quantity lim it 

 for the profitable feeding of animals weighing approxi- 

 mately 1,000 pounds. They are simply illustrative, how- 

 ever, both in kind and in quantity. Many mixtures 

 equally efiicient may be used, and the quantity of the 

 ration must vary not only with the age and size of the 

 animal but with mdividuals, according to appetite 

 and capacity. Any feeder of experience will understand, 

 of course, that such rations will be eaten with safety to 

 the animal only after a period of preliminary feeding, 

 during which there has been a gradual increase in the 

 quantity of food offered. 



MUTTON PRODUCTION 



Attention has been called to the fact that beef pro- 

 duction in the United States has gravitated to the ex- 

 treme West. This is also true of the production of mutton 

 though not to the same extent. Flocks of sheep are still 

 kept on many farms of the eastern and middle West 

 states, and the growth of early lambs and the fattening 

 of maturer animals to supply the demands of the local 

 markets is found to Be most profitable by those farmers 

 who possess the knowledge and skill requisite for this 

 branch of stock husbandry. 



467. Place of sheep on the fanu. — Sheep occupy a 

 peculiar place on the farm in that they will accommodate 

 themselves to pasturage that is not adapted to cows and 

 horses, and will utilize some kinds of rough fodder not 

 readily eaten by other farm animals without submitting 

 it to somewhat expensive methods of preparation. If it 

 were not for the discouragement which sheep husbandry 

 has received from the depredations of dogs, sometimes 



