98 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
arrive they are at once put into the feeding pen, and as soon 
as possible sheared; for we have found that they feed much 
better with the wool off their backs. "They are then able to 
get rid of any ticks which may be troubling them. 
The feeding pens are kept at as nearly a uniform tempera- 
ture as possible during the whole winter, by means of ventila- 
tors, windows, and doors. We aim to keep the temperature at 
about 50° Fahrenheit. Our barn accommodates about 1,600 
lambs with their wool on, and 2,000 or more with the wool off. 
The natural heat from the animals keeps the barn at the 
required temperature. 
We begin selling lambs as soon as the market calls for them, 
which is sometimes 1n December, usually not till January. 
They are sold alive and shipped in car-load lots. As fast as 
the fat ones go, new ones are brought in from Buffalo to 
take their place, until about the 1st of March, when we stop 
buying. 
NUMBER OF SHEEP IN EACH PEN. 
We find it makes little difference how large a number are 
fed in a pen, provided there is room enough for them to move 
about the pens comfortably. Five hundred will do as well 
together as fifty. Of course small, weak, and timid lambs 
must be kept by themselves. 
The question is often asked of sheepmen, How do you man- 
age to keep so large a number of lambs in such close and con- 
fined quarters, without their becoming unhealthy and diseased ? 
Our answer is that we never have any trouble from that source. 
The pens are kept dry by the use of coarse hay, using what 
is necessary to prevent, as far as possible, the formation of 
ammonia. We make it a point to clean out all accumulations, 
at least four times during the winter. Nothing can be more 
injurious to the growing animal than to be forced to breathe air 
loaded with gases arising from heating manure. 
FEEDING. 
This is a very important matter. In feeding lambs great 
care should be taken that no feed be left in the trough after 
their hunger is satisfied. There is another point in the 
feeding of lambs, which cannot be too strongly emphasized, 
namely, that the grain should be of the best quality. We 
ta 
a 
ke 
0 
é 
i 
Zz 
- 

