Sept. 1894.] EXPORT OF NORWEGIAN" SHEEP TO ENGLAND. 



29 



X.— EXPORT OF NORWEGIAN SHEEP TO ENGLAND. 



The Annual Report of the Director of Agriculture, Christiania, 

 contains an account of an experiment in the fattening of sheep 

 for export from Norway to England. 



The experiment, which was supported by a subvention from 

 the Norwegian Government, was carried out, in the autumn of 

 1893, under the supervision of the Stavanger Agricultural Society. 

 The conditions of the experiment received the approval of the 

 Director of Agriculture. They provided that the animals selected 

 for the experiment should weigh at least 100 lbs. ; that the 

 animals should be weighed at the beginning of the experiment and 

 daily until its conclusion ; that the fattening period should not be 

 of less than six days' duration ; that the animals should be fed in 

 accordance with a scheme approved by the Department of 

 Agriculture ; that the fodder should be carefully weighed and 

 recorded during the fattening period ; that the meat of the 

 animals should be sold in England ; and that at the conclusion 

 of the experiment a report of the results, with a statement of 

 exact weights, shoidd be furnished to the Council of the Agri- 

 cultural Society. 



The table of the fodder prescribed for the sheep per day per 

 100 lbs. live weight comprised 1^ lbs. meadow hay, 10 lbs. of 

 turnips, J lb. linseed cake, and J lb. of oats. On this ration 120 

 sheep were fed for various periods, ranging from six to ten 

 weeks. Three separate lots fed with the prescribed fodder for 

 42 days showed an average increase in live weight per head of 

 15 lbs., 174 lbs., and 23 lbs. respectively, while the average 

 augmentation in live weight per head of three lots of animals 

 fed with the same ration for 10 weeks was 21 lbs. Eighty of 

 the sheep were sent alive to England in October, and are stated 

 to have been sold at satisfactory prices. The remaining 40 

 animals were slaughtered on November 30th, and the carcases, 

 with the skins, hoofs, hearts, lungs, and livers intact, were 

 despatched to England, where the mutton realised an average 

 net price of 4>^d. per lb. The oifal of each carcase was sold at 

 an average price of 11 ^cZ., but for the skins, which should have 

 fetched 4s. O^d. each, only Is. lid. was obtained, as they had 

 been badly packed and were consequently damaged. The freight 

 by sea and rail after leaving Stavanger, together with the market 

 commissions, amounted to 5s. o^d. per head. To this must be 

 added the expenses of slaughter, packing, and transport in 

 Norway, which amounted to Is. 5^d. per head, so that the total 

 expenses connected with the marketing of the animals amounted 

 to 6s. lid. per carcase. 



