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The  Rural  New  Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
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VOL.  LXXV. 
NEW  YORK.  FEBRUARY  12,  1016. 
No.  4365. 
Questions  About  Sheep  Feeding 
A  Dinner  for  the  Lambs 
What  is  the  best  feed  ration  for  small  last  Spring 
lambs  to  put  on  the  greatest  possible  growth  from  now 
till  time  to  turn  out  in  the  Spring?  What  is  the  best 
forcing  feed  for  lambs  with  ewe,  from  the  time  they 
are  old  enough  to  eat  till  time  to  turn  out  on  grass? 
Carlisle,  N.  Y.  c.  c. 
HE  subject  of  sheep  raising  in  all  its  depart¬ 
ments  is  very  deservedly  receiving  a  greater 
amount  of  attention  just  now  than  it  has  for  a 
number  of  years  past.  This  fact  is  owing  to  two 
causes,  the  price  of  mutton  and  lamb,  when  fat¬ 
tened,  and  also  the  price  of  wool,  both  of  which  are 
decidedly  higher  than  a  few  years  ago.  Very  nat¬ 
urally  this  has  awakened  a  greater  interest  in  the 
sheep  and  lamb  industry  than  it  has  known  for 
some  time. 
The  questions  give  no  intimation  of  the  feed  the 
inquirer  has  on  hand.  This  usually  is  quite  an 
important  factor  in  outlining  a  ration  for  any  kind 
of  stock,  for  the  supplemental  feeds  which  may  have 
to  be  purchased,  can  very  largely  be  varied  to  suit 
the  forage  and  grain  crops  which  the  feeder  can 
grow,  and  often  considerable  saving  can  be  prac¬ 
ticed  in  this  way.  But  with  nothing  to  guide  us 
save  the  request  for  “the  best  feed”  in  both  ques¬ 
tions.  I  can  only  name  wlmt  seems  the  most  desir¬ 
able  in  a  general  way. 
F.  C.  C.  does  not  state  whether  the  lambs  referred 
to  in  either  question  are  to  he  fattened  for  market 
or  whether  they  are  to  he  held  or  sold  for  breeding 
purposes.  This  would  influence  us  in  computing 
cur  ration  to  a  considerable  degree.  But  the  in¬ 
ference  is  that  they  are  to  be  used  to  build  up  his 
flock.  Assuming  this  to  he  the  case,  1  would  rec¬ 
ommend  for  the  first  question  that  there  is  nothing 
better  for  sheep  or  lambs  than  Alfalfa  hay  as  a 
foundation  from,  which  to  build  up  a  ration.  Sil¬ 
age  is  also  relished  by  lambs,  and  may  well  be 
used  daily  in  their  ration.  In  this  section  where 
beans  are  grown  extensively,  the  pods  make  a  fine 
variety  with  other  fodder.  I  would  therefore  sug¬ 
gest  that  in  the  morning  the  lambs  be  fed  what  sil¬ 
age  they  will  eat  up  cleanly  and  quickly.  At  night 
the  feed  racks  should  be  swept  clean  and  the  grain 
ration  of  the  following  mixture  be  fed — 10ft  pounds 
barley,  10ft  pounds  oats.  100  pounds  corn  nr  hominy 
feed,  and  50  pounds  oil  meal,  about  a  quart  for  four 
lambs  at  first  and  gradually  increase,  as  the  lambs 
put  on  growth,  to  a  pint  each.  After  this  is  cleaned 
up  the  evening  fodder  ration  of  Alfalfa  may  be  fed. 
If  available,  bean  pods  or  bean  straw  may  be  al¬ 
ternated  with  the  Alfalfa  at  night.  If  no  Alfalfa  is 
grown  in  F.  C.  C.’s  section,  some  other  clover  hay 
may  have  to  be  substituted. 
Tn  ease  the  lambs  are  to  he  fattened  for  market, 
corn  may  be  gradually  substituted  for  the  100  pounds 
of  oats,  and  the  same  feed  of  grain  given  in  the 
morning  as  well  as  at  night.  Always  bear  in  mind, 
however,  that  they  will  do  their  best  if  they  are 
still  a  little  hungry  after  each  feed:  this  will  al¬ 
ways  keep  them  ready  for  the  next  meal,  and  avoid 
any  danger  from  overfeeding. 
In  answering  the  second  question  I  assume  that 
F.  C.  C.  desires  something  for  the  little  fellows  to 
be  fed  in  a  “lamb  creep,”  or  separate  pen  accessible 
only  to  the  lambs.  It  would  seem  best  in  this  case 
to  give  ground  feed,  of  about  the  following  com¬ 
position:  100  pounds  barley,  200  pounds  oats,  100 
pounds  wheat  middlings,  and  100  pounds  cracked 
corn  or  hominy  feed,  preferably  the  latter.  This 
may  safely  he  fed  in  a  self-feeder,  allowing  the  little 
fellows  to  have  access  to  it  at  all  times.  It  is  sur¬ 
prising  how  soon  they  will  learn  to  take  this  feed, 
and  it  supplements  the  milk  from  the  ewe  very 
profitably. 
These  mixtures  of  several  grains  may  be  varied 
somewhat  according  to  the  material  on  hand  or 
grown  by  the  feeder,  but  for  the  young  growing 
stock  oats  or  something  of  that  nature  are  better 
than  the  more  carbonaceous  grains  fed  exclusively, 
for  there  is  no  better  flesh  and  miiScle  making  grain 
than  oats.  In  any  case  a  feed  composed  of  a  variety 
of  grains  is  relished  better,  and  therefore  is  a  bet¬ 
ter  feed  than  one  or  two  grains  fed  alone. 
Of  all  the  stock  kept  on  our  farms  sheep  are  un¬ 
questionably  the  most  fastidious  with  reference  to 
their  feed  and  drink,  so  it  is  very  important  that 
their  feeding  racks  and  drinking  pails  he  kept  as 
clean  as  possible.  As  evidence  of  this,  one  will 
usually  find  that  where  running  water  is  piped  to 
the  drinking  pails,  the  sheep  or  lambs  will  take 
nearly  all  their  drink  directly  from  the  pipe  as  it 
flows  out.  instead  of  drinking  from  the  pails. 
Of  course  salt  should  he  accessible  at  all  times. 
and  the  flock  should  be  safeguarded  from  sudden 
fright  or  disturbance  as  much  as  possible.  Another 
item  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  the  fact  that  no  other 
stock  will  be  comfortable  under  such  low  tempera¬ 
tures  as  sheep  and  lamhs,  provided  that  tlieir  quar¬ 
ters  are  dry,  and  that  no  stock  will  require  better 
ventilation,  otherwise  the  moisture  will  condense 
on  their  wool  and  they  will  be  far  more  susceptible 
to  various  ailments  caused  by  dampness  either  in 
the  bedding  or  the  air  in  the  building.  i.  c.  h.  c. 
A  Good  Talk  on  Apples 
REVELATION  IN  APPLE  EATING.— This 
Fall  I  sent  to  a  doctor  in  the  city,  a  man  some¬ 
thing  past  middle  life,  a  barrel  of  my  choice  Mc¬ 
Intosh  apples.  The  next  time  I  saw  him  he  said 
to  me:  “What  were  those  things  you  sent  me?” 
I  replied,  “Mclntoshes !”  “Oh,  Mclntoshes?  My 
wife  said  they  were  apples!  But.  I  knew  they 
weren’t  apples!  I  never  ate  an  apple  in  my  life, 
but  I  ate  a  dozen  of  those  things  every  day !”  This 
Incident  did  not  open  up  any  new  line  of  thought 
to  me,  as  it  is  a  condition  of  affairs  which  I  have 
long  recognized.  Here  was  a  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  intelligence  and  education,  a  natural  lover 
of  good  apples,  with  means  to  buy  fancy  fruit  in 
unlimited  quantities,  yet  who  had  gone  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  deprived  of  the  most  healthful  and 
delicious  of  all  fruits  because  in  his  younger  days 
he  had  been  stung  by  a  Ben  Davis,  an  Alexander 
or  a  Wolf  River,  and  thereafter  all  apples  looked 
alike  to  him.  I  actually  believe  that  the  harm  done 
to  the- apple  trade-  by  putting  low-grade  fruit  indis¬ 
criminately  upon  the  market  is  greater  than  that 
due  to  dishonest  or  poor  packing.  Some  years  ago 
when  I  took  this  view  Ben  Davis  growers  would 
say,  “  ‘The  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating.’ 
I  get  more  money  out  of  my  Bens  than  any 
other  variety.”  This  year  buyers  in  this  section 
refused  to  buy  orchards  that  had  Beu  Davis  in 
them.  Many  growers  have  spent  years  hi  growing  to 
maturity  worthless  varieties  because  nurrerymen 
had  unloaded  on  them  trees  which  were  not  true 
to  name:  others  have  been  poorly  advised,  or  have 
been  led  to  plant  varieties  because  they  were  suc¬ 
cessful  in  other  States.  There  isn’t  such  a  thing 
as  a  perfect  variety  of  apple  (I  mean  from  a  coin* 
Sheep  Busy  in  a  Vermont  Pasture.  Fig.  60 
