Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-04
FATTENING SHEEP.

An Experiment that Furnishes Many Good
Suggestions to Feeders.
L. w. Poet, in an article on sheep fat
tening in Coleman s Rural World, writes
very intelligently on this subject, and
says that the fatteDing of coarse wooded
sheep for the market has received a new
impulse of late, and all facts throwing
light upon the most economical methods
of feeding are Of interest. The science,
or art, is an old one in England; accu-
rate data are less common in this coun-
try. But it is not my purpose TO treat of
mutton sheep at this time, but TO narTate
a simple experiment in feeding the Span
ish MerinO sheep OF Vermont, and no.
where else is the Spanish MerinO so sci
entificallv bred and cared for. The fol-
lowing is Z small experiment, but 1t was
carefully and accurately conducted with
r view Of asceTteining the normal growth
and development of this breed of sheep
when moderately fed and properly at
tended.
Twenty eve lambs, small, oily,
wrinkly, wOolly specimens, were Sc
lected. Their average weight on jan
nary was only fifty-two and three.
twentieth pounds. They were confined
to a comfortable shed, in which was
running water, and were regularly fed
with hay three times each day, while the
grain ration, given ct noon and night.
consisted of oats, BRAN and a little
cracked corn, weighed only one-third of
g pound 10 each sheep per day. At the
end of thirty days, or on February l,
the lambs were weighed Cat the same
time Of day as befOTe) and showed an
average gain of five and three-t1fth
pounds each in weight. This is appaT-
emily nothing extraordinary, but
It is really an increase of over 10 per
cent. on their orig iual weight in
thirty days. The grain ration, it will be
observed, was very small indeed, and
designed for a healthy growth. and not
for fatteuiug purposes. Mutton sheep
are fed at least four or five times as much
grain, and that OF q more csrbonaceous
nature, when they are being fitted for
the market. But lot Of ram lambs fed
and treated in q similar way did even
better. They made an average gain of
exactly seven pounds each, or nearly II
per cent. on their original weight. One
lamb-a small one, weighing but fifty
four and one-fouTth pounds-made the
phenomenal growth of ten pounds, or an
increase Of over Is per cent, in the thir-
ty days.
Does my high esteem for the constitu-
tional vigor and power of assimilation Of
food in the Spanish merino sheep mislead
me in believing that the instances are
rare, where, with so small grain ration
any breed of mutton sheep has made so
creditable 4 feed record? The grain fed
TO each sheep cost less than one-third of
g cent per day. Ii is claimed that the
manuTial value Of bran is Sl3 q ton; and !
that the larger part of this value remains
in the manure The latter statement !
would apply in the feeding Of oats, but |
not so fully 10 corn which, however, is |
not good or safe feed for sheep, as g |
rule, and may well be dispensed with. !
1t was used in this experiment. only to /
- strengthen - the oats which were light. |
I believe the cheapest way TO purchase /
fertilizers is tOsfeed wheatbran 4
largely. Il would, howev er, be /
stating the truth but partially, not TO add /
that the lambs were fed the best hay pos !
sible fOr sheep. This consisted of rOwen /
AIsike clover, and q few daisies and some /
mixed grasses all nicely cured and in (
every way Dalatabie Their iced, as g .
whole, both OF grain and hay was q0iteN
nitrogsuous. Not only this experiment.,
but repeated observations in caring for
sheep induce me TO believe that sheep /
demand Tor their best development both +
in carcass and wool q close feed ration