THE SHEEP INDUSTRY ON THE MINIDOKA PROJECT. 15 
P926RP 
Fig. 4.—A farm flock of sheep on an alfalfa field in winter, eating mangels fed whole. The feeding of roots 
in this manner is a common practice on the Minidoka Reclamation Project. 
FEEDS AND FEEDING. 
The feeds for sheep on the Minidoka project may be divided into 
three general classes: Pastures, waste products, and the feeds used 
in late fall and winter. While there are some variations in the peri- 
ods of utilizing the different feeds, in general the irrigated pastures 
are the basis of summer feeding; the waste products are utilized in 
late summer and early fall, and hay and grain are fed in the winter. 
Pasturing.—Irrigated pastures are becoming increasingly popular 
among sheep growers on the project. Of the 289 farms carrying 
sheep in 1916, 219 contained pasture, the average pasture area being 
10 acres per farm. A part of a farm flock on irrigated pasture is 
shown in figure 2. There is a variety of pasture mixtures in use. 
4 =6 Nearly every pasture, however, contains bluegrass and white clover. 
Perhaps most of the pastures at present in use were originally seeded 
to the mixture recommended by the Idaho Agricultural Experiment 
Station,’ contaiming the following, at the rates of seeding in pounds 
per acre indicated: Kentucky bluegrass, 8 pounds; orchard grass, 
5 pounds; smooth brome-grass, 5 pounds; meadow fescue, 4 pounds; 
timothy, 4 pounds; and white clover, 2 pounds. The total quantity 
of seed in this mixture is 28 pounds per acre. These special pasture 
mixtures, which are in general use on the Minidoka project, provide 
rich feed and are ready early in the season. On these pastures the 
lambs make such rapid growth that they are ready for market early 
in June. In 1916, the first shipment of spring lambs was made on 
May 27, when two carloads left the town of Rupert. These lambs 
were bought to weigh between 65 and 80 pounds. The best lot in 
the shipment was a flock of 74, averaging 734 pounds each at the 
loading station. These lambs had been born during the latter part 
1 Welch, J. S. Grass pastures for irrigated lands. Idaho Agr, Exp, Sta. Bull. 80, 15 p., illus. 1914. 
