448 MANUAL OF OATTLE-FEEBING. 



§ 3. Lambs, 



Quality of Fodder.— Young lambs increase in weight 

 relatively more rapidly than calves, and easily suffer from in- 

 sufficient food, and hence great care must be observed in feed- 

 ing them. This is especially the case as regards the choice 

 of the coarse fodder during and innnediately after weaning. 



Lambs do best upon good pasturage. If fed in the stall, 

 they nmst receive only the best and tenderest hay. If the 

 latter is even slightly too coarse or is unpalatable from any 

 cause, such as unfavorable weather during its making, the 

 animals will not eat a sufficient quantity, and will be strik- 

 ingly retarded iu their development. Even hay of aver- 

 age quality requires the addition of grain, best of oats, or 

 of some other nitrogenous feeding-stuff. 



Feeding fob Maintj5Nance. — Wolif's Experiments. 

 —Some experiments made by Wolff, '^" at Ilohenheim, on 

 the digestibility of fodder by sheep of two different breeds, 

 are also of value in fixing a feeding standard for lambs. 



Four lambs of the so-called Wurttemberg bastard breed, 

 about five months old and weighing about fifty pounds per 

 head, were used. Similar experiments were attempted on 

 Southdown lambs, but were interrupted by sickness of the 

 animals. Two of the four lambs were fed with hay ex- 

 clusively for nine months. The other two received, in 

 addition, grain and oil cake, and fattened quite rapidly, 

 while the first two received only maintenance fodder. We 

 will take up first the results obtained on the hay-fed lambs, 

 omitting, for the present, the question of fattening. 



The experiment was divided into five periods, in each of 

 which the composition and digestibility of the hay were 

 carefully determined. In each period the animals re- 



*Landw. Jahrbiiclier, II., 221. 



