156 



Sheep Feeding Experiments, 



The sheep were usually folded on the turnip break from 

 which the turnips had been lifted, and the turnips for all 

 the lots were weighed, sliced, and fed from feeding boxes, 

 and any turnip matter left uneaten in the boxes was daily 

 removed and its weight deducted. 



The feeding stuffs were usually given at a uniform rate, 

 from half a pound to a pound per head per day, but some- 

 times at a uniform cost per head per day, in which 

 case the quantity of the different stuffs varied considerably, 

 but the quantity given was always totally consumed. 



In the limited space at my disposal I shall refer to some of 

 the chief facts elicited and lessons taught by these experi- 

 ments. 



The number and kind of sheep required for experiment. 



At first ten sheep were used for each lot, but that number 

 was found to be quite inadequate, and no reliance could be 

 placed on the results obtained owing to the remarkable 

 manner in which individual sheep differed in their feeding 

 propensities and progress. The number was therefore 

 raised to twenty per lot, and it has been found that with 

 that number reliable results may be obtained ; the two or 

 three bad doers in a lot being balanced by two or three 

 unusually good ones. The sheep used were always of the 

 same age and breed, and from the same stock, brought up 

 on the same farm, and having received similar treatment in 

 every way. Despite these uniform conditions, the indi- 

 viduals exhibited great variety in their physique and in their 

 feeding progress. 



They were carefully drawn into lots of almost exactly 

 equal aggregate weight, and a reserve of about a score w r as 

 kept to make good any blanks that might occur from various 

 causes so as to simplify the feeding* operations, but any 

 added individuals of that kind were not included in the scope 

 of the experiment. 



As an instance of the differences observed in the individuals 

 of one lot, it was found in 1897 tnat tne ^ ot ^ e( ^ 

 on a mixture of oats and barley made an average increase 

 of 10 lb. per head in twelve weeks, but four individuals 



