4 BULLETIN 996, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUKE. 
Such cases were eliminated from the experiment. The data given, 
are in all cases for ewes having lambs. The matter of dry ewes and 
the influence of rams upon the lamb yield are discussed separately. 
The amount of grain fed was never less than one-half pound per 
ewe daily; in a few cases it was as much as three-fourths of a pound. 
The grain mixture used is given in footnotes of Table 1. The gains 
shown are the averages for each lot, each ewe's gain covering a period 
averaging 10 days prior to the dates the rams were first used up to 
the date of the service to which she lambed. 
It was planned to hold the unflushed lots without making any gains 
in weight during the breeding season. Except in the case of Lots 11 
14, 17, and 20, the pasturage was the same for the flushed and un- 
flushed lots. There was considerable irregularity in the gains of 
individual ewes. Some of those in the unflushed lots made quite 
large gains, while some in the flushed lots made little or no gain. 
However, the fact of having grain feed may be considered to result 
in a more highly nourished body condition, even if not reflected in 
gains in weight. 
In all the Vermont flock tests all lots were run on blue-grass pas- 
tures. All the flushed lots in the Maryland flock were grazed on 
forage crops, soybeans being chiefly used during the breeding season. 
Lots 11, 14, 17, and 20 were pastured on native grass. 
NUMBER OF LAMBS DROPPED. 
The 8 lots of unflushed ewes for which results are reported here 
produced lambs at the rate of 128.7 per 100 ewes, while the 12 lots 
of flushed ewes produced lambs at the rate of 147.4 per 100 ewes, 
showing an increase of 18.7 lambs per 100 ewes as a result of flushing. 
This figure applies to 352 lambings of 157 different ewes used in 
the fall breeding seasons of 1916 to 1921, inclusive, and includes the 
total number of lambs dropped, living or dead. 
As shown in Table 1, the smallest result obtained from flushing in 
any one of the separate trials was indicated by a difference in lamb- 
ing rate which would have resulted in 3.2 more lambs per 100 ewes. 
This was in the case of Lots 5 and 6, bred at the Morgan Horse 
Farm, Middlebury, Vt., in the fall of 1917. Both lots of ewes were 
in very good condition and ran on similar grass pastures. Although 
fed grain (14 parts, by weight, of corn, 5 parts bran, 1 part linseed 
meal) at the rate of one-half pound each daily, the flushed lot made 
an average gain of only 6.3 pounds per head from September 8 until 
they were in lamb, while in the corresponding time the ewes not fed 
grain gained 4.58 pounds per head. The most pronounced effects of 
flushing are seen by comparing Lot 3 with Lot 4, Lot 9 with Lots 
10 and 11, and Lot 18 with Lots 19 and 20. 
