FEEDING ^HEEP 377 



flock. This is a good plan, for then the sheep are not hkely 

 to eat more than they really need. According to Kellner,* 

 an ordinary mature sheep should have from one eighth to 

 one fourth ounce of salt a day, and, in case the food is 

 difficult of digestion, the amount of salt may be increased 

 to a half ounce. 



Water for sheep is essential, although the strange impres- 

 sion seems to prevail in some quarters that sheep do not 

 need water. It is true that sheep . will go without water 

 longer than other farm animals, especially when on pasture; 

 but they unquestionably do best when they have an un- 

 limited supply. A variety of conditions affects the body 

 demands for water, such as temperature, kind of food, con- 

 dition of shelter, and covering of wool. According to Henry 

 and Morrison t a sheep needs from one to six quarts of water 

 daily, according to feed, temperature, and weather. 



The use of the self-feeder with sheep has not proven 

 generally satisfactory. Most of the feeding experiments 

 conducted with the self-feeder have shown that more con- 

 centrates are eaten when self-fed than with ordinary feed- 

 ing, and the cost of gains in weight is consequently too 

 great. On the basis of three years of trial with self-feeders 

 at the Michigan station. Prof. Mumford writes :§ "Fattening 

 lambs by means of a self-feeder is an expensive practice, and 

 economy of production requires more attention to the varia- 

 tions in the appetites of the animals than can be given by 

 this method." At the Nebraska station. Prof. Gramlich 

 found the use of the self-feeder containing corn and oil meal 

 in comparison with a heavy feed of corn supplemented with 

 alfalfa hay did not prove economical. It resulted in an in- 

 creased gain, a greater consumption of corn and concentrates, 

 but a much higher cost per 100 pounds gain.t 



*Scientific Feeding of Animals, O. Kellner, 1910. 

 tFeeds and Feeding, 1917. 

 § Bulletin 128 Michigan Agr. Exp. Station. 

 tBuUetin 170, Univ. of Nebraska Exp. Station, 1918. 



