- 35 - 
sheep were fed in racks fourteen by sixteen feet square, with tight 
board bottoms. These were filled with a weighed quantity of hay, 
about four hundred pounds to the rack. As the sheep ate the hay 
around the sides of the rack, new hay was pushed out from the middle 
and the coarse butts they refused drawn out of their way. Fresh loads 
of hay were added from time to time. The sheep were tagged and 
weighed individually each two weeks, at which time the refuse was 
all cleaned out of the racks and weighed, giving by subtraction the 
amount of hay actually eaten. In the amount credited as eaten is in¬ 
cluded the small quantity that was thrown out of the racks by the 
sheep and trampled under foot. By keeping the ground clear around 
the racks, this was reduced to a minimum and probably does not rep¬ 
resent over five per cent, of the total amount actually eaten. Thus 
the sheep always had the best of hay before them, and the amounts of 
hay they are credited with eating represent the maximum amounts 
that sheep will really eat. That these amounts are less than those 
commonly given for sheep, show how large a proportion of the hay 
put in the feeding racks is ordinarily wasted. 
The grain and beets were fed in separate racks twice a day,'and 
were usually all eaten in about fifteen minutes. 
Feeding began October 24, 1894, and for the next twenty-eight * 
days nothing was given but alfalfa hay. On November 13, the 
twenty western lambs were sheared, yielding four and one-fifth pounds 
of wool per head. The first snow storm of the season came November 
15, with a high wind and a temperature of one below zero. The 
newly sheared lambs suffered severely with the cold, but ate so much 
that they rapidly made up the loss of the weight of their fleece. 
FEEDING RECORD OCTOBER 24 TO NOVEMBER 19. 
DifirestiWe dry 
, .... eaten per matter per day, 
Weight Weight Hay eaten per day per 1000 lbs per 1000 lbs live 
Oct. 24. Nov. 19. head per day. live weight. weight, 
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 
Western yearlings. 
118 
128 
3.6 
30 
16.0 
Western lambs. 
101 
103* 
2.3 
23 
' 11.5 
Mexican yearlings. 
73 
75 
2.8 
38 ' 
• 19.0 
Mexican lambs. 
03 
60 
1.3 
20 ' 
10.0 
Average, 
oc 
93 
2.5 
00 
13.9 
*To this would be added the four pounds of wool, so that the western lambs 
really gained six pounds during the four weeks. . 
It will be noticed that in both cases the older sheep ate more than 
the lambs, both per head and per thousand pounds of live'weight. 
From November 20 to December 13, the feed remained alfalfa 
alone. The sheep ate considerably more, due probably to the increased 
cold weather. From December 1 to 13, was steadily cold, freezing 
