VOL. XLVII. NO. 2012. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 18, 1888. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS 
82.00 PER YEAR. 
TEntered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1888. by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.) 
FEEDING SHEEP FOR FAT AND LEAN. 
Last fall the Rural mentioned the fact 
that experiments with feeding nitrogenous 
and non-nitrogenous foods to sheep were being 
conducted at Cornell University. This week 
we are able to give the results of these experi¬ 
ments. These results are published, with 
colored illustrations, in Bulletin No. 2 just 
issued by Director I. P. Roberts, but the 
Rural has had new engravings made and 
gives the story in a somewhat more compact 
form. Several experiments conducted on 
somewhat similar lines have been made with 
pigs. This appears to be the first lime that 
lambs have been fed for experiment purposes 
with this particular end in view. The results 
cannot fail to be of interest to those who feed 
lambs for the spring market. 
The specimens for the experiment were chosen 
with great care from a flock of about 100 
were fed good mixed Timothy and clover 
hay, great care being taken to give them 
only so much as they would eat up clean. 
All ate their rations with avidity up to nearly 
the last of December when that of lot two had to 
be reduced for a short time to two pounds, and 
later on, for three days they received nothing 
but hay, as they refused to eat their corn 
meal; it was not until March first, when four 
pounds of mangolds were added to the ra¬ 
tions of both lots, that they could be induced 
to eat their full ration. 
According to the German standards of feed, 
ing rations, one to four is the narrowest, (that 
is, one part of protein, or muscle-producing 
food to four parts of carbohdrates or heat 
and fat-producing), and one to seven the 
widest ratio advisable for the purpose of fat¬ 
tening sheep. Since the nutritive ratio of the 
food of one lot was below the lower of these 
ratios, and that of the other above the higher, 
it is natural for us to expect very marked 
results. These results were noticeable almost 
from the beginning of the experiment. The 
lambs of lot one were livelier, more sportive, 
ncreased it to 16 per cent. The average gain 
of lot two for the same period was per 
cent. The additon of the four pounds of roots 
increased this to 13 per cent. 
The following table shows the gain by 
months during the experiment. 
PER CENT. GAINS.—LOT 1. 
Gain from Nov. 11 to Dec. 1,’87_10 per cent. 
“ Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, ’88.19 “ 
“ Jan, 1 to Feb. 1,’88.12 “ 
“ “ Feb. 1 to Mar. 1, >88 ... 6 “ 
“ “ Mar. 1 to April 25,’88.... 16 “ 
LOT. 2. 
Gain from Nov. 11 to Dec. 1,’87.... 0 per cent. 
“ “ Dec. 1 to Jan 1, ’88.19 “ 
“ “ Jan. 1, to Feb. 1,’88.... 5 “ 
“ “ Feb. 1 to Mar. 1, ’88. 6 “ 
“ “ Mar. 1 to April 25,’88. .13 “ 
This table also shows that the mangolds 
which were fed after the first of Mai ch pro¬ 
duced the desired effect; namely, the improve¬ 
ment of the digestion of all the lambs. 
The totals of the different foods consumed 
for one day at the end of which time each 
one was carefully cut into four sections 
through the following points: between the 
fifth and sixth ribs, between the 12th and 13th 
ribs, and just in front of the hip joints. All 
the sections were photographed and an aver¬ 
age set chosen, from which the plates were 
made. 
Fig. 285 illustrates the section of carcass 
between the sixth and 13th ribs of an animal 
from lot 1. Fig. 286 shows the same section 
of carcass of an animal from lot 2. Fig. 287 
shows a front view of the sixth rib of an 
animal from lot 2, while Fig. 288 shows the 
same part of a carcass from lot 1. Fig. 289 is 
a front view of a section made just in front 
of the hip joint from an animal in lot 2, while 
Fig. 290 is the same from lot 1. Fig, 291 is 
a front view of 13th rib from an animal in 
lot 2, while Fig. 292 shows the same from lot 1. 
These sections show plainly that the amount 
of fat found on the lambs fed on nitrogenous 
feed exceeded that produced by those fed on 
non-nitrogenous food. The lean was also 
increased. 
MUTTON FED ON CORN MEAL Fig. 286. 
MUTTON FED ON OIL MEAL AND BRAN. Fig. 285. 
lambs, six months old; six were chosen with 
great care with reference to uniformity in 
size, weight and shape. They were of mixed 
Cotswold and South Down blood. Their food 
from weaning to October 10th had been grass 
alone. They were shorn and all placed to¬ 
gether in a box-stall and prepared for the 
experiment by being fed hay, and at first a 
small portion of corn meal and bran which 
was gradually increased until it reached, on 
November 11th—when the experiment began 
—about % of a pound per head. From this 
time on they were divided into two lots of 
three each in such a way as to make the total 
weight of each as nearly equal as possible’ 
They were provided with warm stalls on the 
ground floor of the barn. In order to make 
the feeding rations different in character, lot 
one at th6 beginning of the experiment was fed 
daily 1% pound of oil meal and 1% pound of 
coarse wheat bran. Later on in the experi¬ 
ment, in order to make the nutritive ratio 
still narrower, one pound of cotton-seed meal 
was substituted for one of bran. Lot two was 
led three pounds of corn meal daily. Both lots 
plumper, and showed far better development 
and growth than those of lot two. 
The difference in the amount of water that 
was drank as the experiment progressed was 
very marked. Lot one drank 61 pounds in 
six days; lot two 21X pounds. The solid 
voidings were of a very different character; 
—those of lot one being soft while those of lot 
two were hard and dry up to March 1st when 
the ration of mangolds was added. 
It was evident by March 1st that lot 
two would not become fat enough or have 
sufficient development, without some change 
in the ration, to compare with lot one; so a 
change of ration became imperative. Table 
one shows that the added root ration not only 
toned up the digestion of lot two, and enabled 
them to consume more corn meal than they 
could without it, and to make a gain of two per 
cent, more in one month than they had in the 
two previous months, but it also shows that 
lot one were greatly benefited by the addition 
of roots to their food. Their average gain 
for the four preceding periods was 11% per 
c*ut. The addition of the roots apparently 
during the 166 days of the experiment are 
shown in the following: 
lot 1. 
Fed on nitrogenous food—consumed: 
Oil meal.229.5 lbs. 
Coarse wheat bran.145. “ 
Cotton-seed meal.104.5 “ 
Meadow hay—medium.600. “ 
Mangolds.224. “ 
lot 2 
Fed on non-nitrogenous food—consumed: 
Corn meal... 341. lbs. 
Meadow hay—medium.494. “ 
Mangolds... 224. “ 
The lambs were slaughtered on the morning 
of the 25th of April by an expert butcher. 
Each lamb was weighed, then slaughtered, 
then weighed again to determine the amount 
of blood in each lot. Then the skin, liver, 
kidneys, spleen, heart, and several other 
important internal organs were separately 
weighed and finally the dressed weight was 
taken. The bodies were hung up to stiffen 
As a result of careful weighings and measur¬ 
ings it is concluded that, in proportion to live 
weight, the dressed weight of lot 1 was nine 
per cent, greater than lot 2; that of wool, 26 
per cent.; of caul, 13 per cent.; of spleen, 9 per 
cent.; of kidneys, 13 percent.; while that of the 
blood of lot 2 was 9 per cent, greater than lot 1; 
of heart, 26 per cent.; of skin, 2 per cent.; of 
liver, 4 per cent.; of lungs, 8 per cent.; of 
head, 20 per cent.; of viscera, 22 per ceut. 
The metatarsal bones of lot 1 were 22 per 
cent stronger than those of lot 2. The tibias 
of lot 1 were 24 per cent, stronger than those 
of lot 2. 
Thus it is seen that the valuable parts are 
proportionately larger in those fed on nitro¬ 
genous food. The kidneys and spleen of 
lot 1 are also considerably larger, while all 
the other important internal organs are 
larger in those fed on non-nitrogenous 
food. 
Prof. Roberts concludes as the result of this 
one experiment that the effect of feeding an 
undue proportion of non-nitrogenous food to 
sheep is: 
