216 Western Live-stock Jfanagement 
been carried on in the Corn-Belt where corn silage can 
be produced at a lower figure than it can on the average 
western farm. For this reason the figures may not have 
the significance to the western farmer that they otherwise 
would. A silo for less than 250 sheep is too small to be 
practical unless there are other stock to be fed silage as 
well as the sheep. 
HAY 
Sheep everywhere are largely and often exclusively 
wintered on hay. Being more or less dainty about their 
eating, the hay must be of the very best quality and cer- 
tain kinds cannot be used at all. The commonest hays 
that are used throughout the western states are alfalfa, 
clover, vetch and oats, vetch and rye, and vetch and 
barley. These are all good. Possibly the alfalfa hay in 
localities where it can be grown is the best sheep hay, 
but clover hay is a very close competitor. Such hays as 
timothy and prairie hay should not be fed to sheep when 
other hay can be obtained. Timothy hay does not have a 
very high feeding value for sheep and is extremely objec- 
tionable because the heads become lodged in the wool and 
working their way down to the skin of the animal cause 
much irritation. Prairie hay, likewise, is of a compara- 
tively low feeding value for sheep. The trials at some of 
the western experiment stations show that when prairie 
hay was fed to sheep, it required additional grain to the 
extent that the cost of the grain equaled the cost of both 
hay and grain where the alfalfa was used. Under such 
conditions, a farmer could not afford to feed prairie hay 
when he could grow the alfalfa or clover. As a rule, it 
is impractical to attempt to grow farm sheep without some 
form of legume hay. 
