Feeding Experiments with Lambs 
1908-09, 1909-10, 1910-11. 
G. E. Morton* 
INTRODUCTION 
This bullletin includes three winters’ work with lambs, covering the 
following points: 
1. Alfalfa hay, whole, compared with alfalfa hay, cut, using corn 
as the grain ration. 
2. Scotch (hulled, or brewing) barley compared with corn, using 
alfalfa as the hay ration. 
3. The self feeder for alfalfa hay compared with the panel meth¬ 
od of feeding, using alfalfa hay and corn for the ration. 
4. Scotch barley, California feed barley, and corn compared, 
using alfalfa as the hay ration. 
5. Cut alfalfa hay, and fine alfalfa meal compared with each 
other and with whole hay, using corn as the grain 
ration. 
6. Loss caused by dogs gaining entrance to corrals and worry¬ 
ing fattening lambs. 
Alfalfa Hay or Reduced Hay 
In Bulletin 151 of this Station, I reported two trials of cut alfalfa 
hay in comparison with whole alfalfa hay. The term “cut hay” is 
used in these bulletins to designate hay run through a fodder cutter 
but not reduced to the fineness of typical commercial alfalfa meal. In 
our experiments we used a three-quarter inch cut. Much of the al¬ 
falfa meal on the market has the stems reduced to about one-half 
inch in length, and usually they are somewhat shredded. There are a 
number of mills on the market especially designed for the reduction 
of alfalfa hay to a so-called meal, but there is only one, so far as I 
know, that reduces the hay to a meal comparable with fine corn meal or 
reground bran. Most mills produce a shredded alfalfa, which has 
earned the well-established commercial term, “alfalfa meal.” 
Reducing alfalfa to three-quarter inch lengths, secures, according 
to the observation of the writer, practically all advantages to be ob¬ 
tained from the use of reduced hay or alfalfa meal for fattening 
animals, cost considered. The finer the reduction is made, the great¬ 
er the cost of reduction becomes, as a rule. Consequntly we used the 
cut hay in all experiments here reported. In the 19101911 experi¬ 
ment we also tried the finest grade of meal produced in a commercial 
way. Consequently, these experiments give data as to the value of 
reduced hay, both fine and coarse. 
* With the assistance of G. A. Gilbert and H. E. Dvorachek in working up data. 
