\7 0L. LXVIII
INDIANAPOLIS, JUL^
NO. 30
Feeding Lambs Economically for Market
The mutton industry seems to be in a
very prosperous condition. In the year
1912 the markets received the largest
number of sheep they have received in
the hi-story of the markets. And right
now In the year 1913, after such a
large number came to market in 1912
we see prices rising very rapidly. In
view of the fact that we had such a run
in 1912, to see the market taking a sudden rise, indicates a very healthy condition of the mutton industry. It means
that the American population has been
raised on beef and hog diet long enough
and are beginning to appreciate a good
piece of mutton and a good piece of
lamb. And If we can consume the large
number of sheep and lambs that came
to the market in 1912 it is safe to say
that we will see comparatively good
prices for some time to come.
Two years ago we began conducting
experiments at the Indiana Station
with sheep in order to find out the most
economical way of fattening lambs. We
had been devoting a lot of time to fattening cattle and hogs but had not paid
a great deal of attention to the fattening of lambs. But at that time we
went into the business and we received
some very valuable data. This has
since been published tn Bulletin 163
which gives the summary of three trials
that we have made on this subject. All
were conducted along the same "ne because we have found that when we
base conclusions on just one trial we
are liable to miss the truth. It usually
takes two or three trials because the
live stock may vary so much and feed
may vary. In order to be sure of our
results we conduct about three trials
before we can get anything out of it.
Timothy   vs. Clover   Hay For   Lambs.
I will give first the summary of the
results we received from feeding hay.
We knew what timothy hay would do
before we fed it but some people do not
know, because I visited a man about
two years ago and all he was giving his
lambs was corn and timothy hay. I
found that If a man had just timothy
hay and lambs the best thing to do was
to sell them. We have made three
trials of this feed; corn and timothy
hay, and corn and clover hay. We had
50 lambs in the first trial 70 in the next
and 90 in the last. The average daily
gain was .192 pounds when corn and
timothy hay was fed and .325 pounds
with corn and clover hay. They ate
less also of the corn and clover ration.
1.02 pounds of grain and 1.23 of hay.
With the corn and timothy ration they
ate .93 pounds of grain and 1.41 of hay.
With corn at 60 cents a bushel 100
pounds of gain would cost $8.64 with
timothy and corn ration and $6.26 with
clover and corn ration. Not only that,
but every bunch of lambs that we fed
on timothy hay showed a tendency at
all times to go off feed, after about six
or seven weeks. To keep them from
going off feed we had to reduce the ration, while the others were up to the
rack every time and cleaned up lots of
grain and went up to hay rack and ate
hay with relish. We had to feed them
''ith a little linseed oil. Only one
OUneh out of three ever got very much
Address by Prof. F. G. King, before Indiana Sheep
Breeders' and Feeders' Association
above feeder condition. So I think I
am justified in saying if a man has a
bunch of timothy hay and a bunch of
lambs, he had better sell them both before he ruins his lambs. We have quit
feeding   timothy    hay    and    we    hope
furnish that to them and it has always
been a decided success in our lamb
feeding experiments.
What has been the direct effect? I
have shown you the average of three
bunches     fed     on     corn,     and     clover
Lambs  feeding on  a  lawn  and  making good use of pasture that is sometimes wasted.
everybody in Indiana has. That is one
definite conclusion that we have come
to.
Corn Silage a Good Feed.
The other things that we have been
studying have been the value of
corn silage for fattening lambs. You
know we have in Indiana enough corn
stalks to feed three times as much
stock as we have in this state. Forty
per cent of the feeding value of corn
is in the corn stall:. We have not
been making good use of it. Sheep
need some sort of succulent feed in
winter.    We have found the silage will
hay. Here is a bunch on corn,
clover hay and silage. Gain
per lamb practically the same per
day. But when we added silage It reduced the grain ration and hay ration.
When we consider grain and hay, the
high priced things we are feeding
lambs on, it took less grain to make a
pound of gain, and 2.9 pounds of silage
replaced about 1% pounds of clover
hay. The cost of gain when clover hay
was used was $4.99, and when corn silage was used $4.79. When the ration
was made up of corn, clover hay and
silage the gain cost $5.63, a saving of
30 to 35 per cent on each 100 pounds.
A few lambs can be made to fit in profitably on the average farm of Indiana at
very little trouble or expense.
This made use of feed that would
otherwise be going to waste and which
is one of the big problems of the farm.
Have you ever stopped to think that
in a rotation of corn, oats, wheat an.l
clover the ratio would be 120 tons of
grain and 220 tons of roughage? The
big problem is how to make economical
use of that rough feed and maintain
soil fertility, make use of corn stalks
and get a succulent feed that will keep
our lambs in excellent condition. This
is possible only when you add corn silage to corn and clover hay.
Sheep Make Good Gains.
We have found that corn silage can
be made to replace clover hay but that
when it does in the ration fed to cattle they do not make any faster gains
because the clover hay balances up the
ration with corn, so it would look as if
in order to get the best results we
would have to- feed cottonseed meal
when corn silage replaces clover hay.
Ration of corn, clover hay, cottonseed
meal and corn silage is the best ration
we have ever fed. We have gotten faster and cheaper gains with this
than we have with any other ration. In
one trial the corn, cottonseed meal and
clover hay made faster gains, in the
other two trials the silage more than
made up for it. For an average of 70
days 59 pound lambs fed corn, eotton-
seed meal and clover hay gained a little better than one-third of a pound a
day. The best gains we have made in
any lot since we have been feeding
lambs has been about .39 of a pound, a
little less than .4 pounds a day.
However the average was a little less
than one-third of a pound and when silage was used it took less grain, so the
cost of making 100 pounds gain was reduced 25c with corn at 40c a bushel.
With corn at 50 cents a bushel it reduced the cost 32 cents. Not only that
but in the first instance it added 15c a
100 pounds to the selling value, in the
second trial, we did not get value on it,
and in the third trial it added ten centa
It not only made cheaper gains but
made a little more money.
STABLE  MANURE  AND  ITS APPLICATION.
W. A. G.
Editors  Indiana Farmer:
While other fertilizers have their
place on most farms, there is nothing
so dependable, satisfactory, or good for
increasing crops, or permanently benefiting the soil, as an abundance of
strong stable and barnyard manure.
Unless it is purchased, a thing now hard
to do generally, there is no way to secure it, but by producing it on the
farm. To do this, much stock of all
kinds must be bred, grown up and matured or fattened, which requires that
all the grass, grain, hay, silage, etc.,
a farmer can produce must be consumed on his premises.
Land already good may be made better, and poor soil brought up to a fine
state of fertility, by a liberal application of manure. Graze through the
Continued on page 16.