St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-03-26
FOR BREEDING EWES
Cottonseed Meal Makes Excel
lent Feed for the Sheep.
Usually Unnecessary to Supply Much
concentrated Food in Southern
States Where Pastures Avail.
able Ten Months in Year,

In the southern states where cot
tohseed is commonly available Cor
ifedlng it is usually unnecessary to
supply much concentrated feed to
breeding sheep at any season of the
year because they can Craze the year
around. In Alabama, for instance,
sheep can have permanent pastures
LOT at least ten months in the year by
ene use OF Bermuda and burr clover.
Inc remaining two months can be
ofldged over with temporary winter
pastures, says Breeders Gazette. The
climate Is SO mild the year through
tnat the lambs can be born in mid
winter and suffer none from the cold.
This permits the Alabama farmer to
get the lambs upon the early spring
market at the time when high prices
are realized and without an expensive
period OF dry feeding the flock.
These considerations have encour-
aged sheep production in the south
ana some thriving f1ocks have result
cd. But even when the effort is made
TO supply winter pasture it is fire.
quently necessary to give dry feed
LOT some part of the winter. D. T.
Gray and J. w: Ridgway tested cot
tonseed meal and hulls for this pur-
pose at the Alabama experiment sta
tlon at Auburn and have reported the
results in Bulletin 148. On inquiry
they found that some farmers in the
state fed nothing but cottonseed meal
and bulls to pregnant ewes during the
winter months. Others feed nothing
out cottonseed. Still others are afraid
to feed either cottonseed meal or cot
tonseed, thinking that cotton by-p-od-
ucts are dangerous feeds for sheep.
1t Is often claimed that cottonseed or
cottonseed meal will cause blindness,
dizziness and sometimes death when
given to ewes.
The experimental flock was divided
into two lots of eight ewes each, and
one lot was fed upon soy bean hay
alone and the other lot upon cotton
seed meal and hulls. The soy bean
hay was of excellent quality but had
no mature beans upon it, as it was
cut before the beans were ripened.
The cottonseed meal was fresh and
bright. The daily allowance of cot.
tonseed meal was half a pound per
eve of IS pounds weight and with it
was fed 1.3 pounds of hul1s. To the
other lot of ewes the daily allowance
OF soy bean hay was 19 pounds. These
quantities barely held the weight of
the ewes without loss for 1O6 days. 1t
would have been cheaper to feed less
meal and more hulls but the object
was to learn the effect of a rather
large amount of cottonseed meal. It
was found that both lots came through
to the lambing period in excellent
health and spirits, but the cottonseed
meal lot seemed to be more spirited
and alert than the soy bean lot. No
objection could be brought against Ell
their feed as far as its general effects
upon the animals were concerned.
After lambing the feed of the ewes
was increased sufficiently to maintain
their weight and they were carried for
~ days more on the cottonseed meal
and hulls. 1t required on the average
O.S8 pounds per head of the meal and |
s.35 pounds of hulls per day during |
this time when sucking the lambs. |
This was rs per cent. more meal and |
81 per cent. more hulls than were re-
4uired before Landing The ewes re-
NAMED healthy on this ration and the
ambs grew rapidly on the large flow
If milk produced. Under ordinary
conditions no such extended period of
Try feeding is necessary on southern
sarms, SO there seems very small like
ihood of any unfavorable results to
come from cottonseed meal in COM
non use.