The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Arkell, T. R.

New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station

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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository NHAES Bulletin New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station 1-1-1911 Feeding sheep and lambs: clover hay v. native hay; turnips v. dry ration, Bulletin, no. 152 Arkell, T. R. New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/agbulletin Recommended Citation Arkell, T. R. and New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, "Feeding sheep and lambs: clover hay v. native hay; turnips v. dry ration, Bulletin, no. 152" (1911). NHAES Bulletin. 115. https://scholars.unh.edu/agbulletin/115 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NHAES Bulletin by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu. w PiillffiillIP! tilllit aaM a!illliillf111111! 1iSHt\w^MX^ i«--li.l ok- eA4 • */./4v* ^ - *!&l ***** x**&f' ^ "ws "^Experiment Station Library.Class .. .Vi/VSLrVNumber IV 1^^ UJfcy.,.^ .Volume ^AVoWry Voj^Vut?SourceReceived . . ..S^.wx^.\a\B ^a*-^-\CostAccession No. ~iA \ ~~\ - M+--,.*?.\Bulletin 1523 MbDD DDblfi 14535January, 1911NEW HAMPSHIREAGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONDEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRYThe Shepherd's HarvestFEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS: CLOVER HAY V. NATIVE HAY;TURNIPS V. DRY RATIONT. R. ARKELL.NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGEOFAGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTSDURHAM, N. H.5.£JL\A/0. \Id%NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTUREAND THE MECHANIC ARTS.NEW HAMPSHIREAGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONDURHAM, N. H.Board of ControlHON. JOHN G. TALLANT, Chairman,HON. WARREN BROWN,HON. N. J. BACHELDER, A. M., M. S.,HON. E. H. WASON, B. S.,PRES. WILLIAM D. GIBBS, D. ftc, ex officio,West ConcordHampton FallsEast AndoverNashuaDurhamThe Station StaffJOHN C. KENDALL, B. S., Director.FREDERICK W. TAYLOR, B. Sc. (Age), Agronomist.CHARLES BROOKS, Ph. D., Botanist.FRED RASMUSSEN, B. S. A., Dairyman.B. S. PICKETT, M. S., Horticulturist.B. E. CURRY, A. B., Chemist.T. R. ARKELL, B. S. A., Animal Husbandman.W. C. O'KANE, M. S., Entomologist.CHARLES W. STONE, A. M., Farmer, and Vice-director.W. H. WOLFF, M. S., Assistant Horticulturist.DAVID LUMSDEN, Assistant in Floriculture.W. L. SLATE, Jr., B. S. (Agr.), Assistant in Agronomy.T. O. SMITH, A. B., Assistant Chemist.J. J. GARDNER, B. S., Assistant in Olericulture.O. L. ECKMAN, B. S., Assistant Animal Husbandman.CAROLINE A. BLACK, A. M., Assistant Botanist.MIRIAM L. HOBBS, Purchasing Agent.MABEL H. MEHAFFEY, Stenographer.M. GENEVIEVE BURT, Bookkeeper.MARY L. BURNHAM, Stenographer.The bulletins of the Experiment Station are published at irregular inter-vals, and are sent free to all residents of New Hampshire requesting them.FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS: CLOVER HAY v. NATIVEHAY; TURNIPS v. DRY RATION.T. It. ARKELL.General Summary.1. Clover hay, as a feed for sheep, is decidedly more profitable andmore economical in mutton production than native hay.2. The native hay contained large quantities of timothy and othergrasses that the sheep did not relish. Timothy hay is not a palatablefeed for sheep.3. The relative difference in price between timothy or native hayand clover hay is such that the sheep raiser in New Hampshire, whois not growing clover, can profitably sell the former and purchase thelatter, or better still, alfalfa, for his sheep.4. So long as the market price of hay continues high in New Hamp-shire with the comparatively low price of grain, when the greaterfeeding value of the latter is considered, the sheep feeder can wellafford to feed grain in the winter ration.5. Turnips, in the winter ration, reduce the cost of mutton pro-duction.6. Turnips, owing to their watery nature, render the ration morepalatable, and are distinctly useful, when fed in moderate quan-tities in conjunction with hay and grain, in preventing constipationand other resultant ills, which so frequently occur when sheep arechanged from pasture to dry feed.7. The chief danger with turnips lies in heavily overfeeding orattempting to make them constitute the bulk of the ration, whenthey are liable to make the ration too laxative and produce scouring.8. Turnips are well adapted to New Hampshire soils and climate.9. They can be raised and stored at a cost low enough to competewith silage and in many cases supplant silage for sheep feeding.10. Turnips or other roots offer a partial solution to the problemof securing a substitute for high priced grain.INTRODUCTION.Sheep raising in New Hampshire is fast becoming an importantphase of the livestock industry. Its development, or ratherredevelopment, within recent years has been rapid, and everyyear shows a consistent and satisfactory increase in numbers.Farmers are beginning to realize how profitable, when pursuedupon a systematic basis, sheep raising is. Attention is beingpaid, not only to general sheep raising, but to that more intensiveform of it—winter or "hot-house" lamb production. Earlylamb raising yields large returns owing to the proximity andeasy access to the Boston and New York markets, where the.highest prices in America prevail for this product.4 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152There are many advantages of sheep raising that should appealto the average farmer and make him a convert to the business.First, the initial investment need not be great. In fact, a begin-ner should always start with but a few sheep. As his flockgrows, so will his experience in methods of management, and hewill not be so liable to make costly mistakes. Nor has the sheepbreeder long to wait before he realizes a return from his invest-ment. If he practises winter or "hot-house" lamb raising, hesells his lambs at from ten to fourteen weeks of age, and, eventhough he is simply raising lambs for the late summer or falltrade, he will seldom have to keep them longer than eight months.By selling his ram lambs and keeping his ewe lambs, he is obtain-ing considerable profit and at the same time increasing his flockrapidly without a further monetary expenditure.Sheep can be maintained very cheaply and still thrive andreturn a profit. Besides, their feeds need never be of an expen-sive nature. In the summer pasture alone is sufficient; in thewinter good clover hay, oats and a few roots or other succulentfood. Silage may be used in the place of roots, but very spar-ingly, as silage, if sour or moldy and if fed in quantities muchover two pounds per day, is apt to cause severe digestive ail-ments, scouring and consequent loss in weight. Always makethe sheep eat up cleanly what is placed before them, ratherslightly underfeed than overfeed. This is the great secret ofeconomical feeding, and, without the practice of strict economyin this respect, even reasonable profits can never be attained.In restoring fertility to wornout pastures, sheep can be usedeffectively as one of the first aids. Their manure is rich and,besides, is evenly distributed over the entire field. Again,sheep are weed destroyers. Where there are many sheep butfew weeds will thrive. They will eat and apparently enjoyalmost every class of weeds, even one of such a prickly natureas the thistle. Sheep are the true pasture scavengers and atthe same time natural fertilizers, and these two features are byno means unimportant in the New England scheme of farming.Expensive buildings are not necessary in order to gain successwith sheep raising. A barn wherein the sheep can be shelteredfrom the wintry winds and snow and be fed conveniently, isall that is needed. Sheep confined in a warm, poorly ventilatedbarn, as is the condition with so many cattle stables, will neverthrive well and are very liable to disease and parasites. Awarm lambing pen must, however, be provided, yet, after thefirst few weeks of their lives, even the lambs are capable ofstanding considerable cold with little or no ill-effects. Thisfeature comprehends another most important advantage ofsheep raising, and permits the man with a small capital to enterand pursue the business successfully.Jan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS. 5OBJECT.It is the purpose of this bulletin to present, in as clear andconcise fashion as possible, the results of feeding tests, that werepursued during 1909-10, to discover the relative feeding valuesfor sheep of,—1. Clover hay versus the ordinary hay mixture, designatednative hay, that is grown all too prevalently in New Hampshire2. Turnips in conjunction with grain and hay versus dryration of grain and hay only.FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT.Feeding was carefully prosecuted in every instance. Regu-larity was a factor to which strict attention was paid. Thesheep were fed twice a day, in the morning at 7 and at 4.30 inthe afternoon. The rations were always weighed out accuratelyat every meal. They had access to water and salt, the latterbeing supplied in the rock form, at all times of the day. Anabundance of bedding was provided and, to minimize the possi-bility of an outbreak of disease, the buildings were kept welldisinfected. Large yards were connected with the barn, so thatthe sheep were able to take plenty of exercise. During theexperiment the sheep were all healthy and vigorous.Both feeding tests were of ninety-eight days' duration. Care-ful weighings of the individual sheep were made every twoweeks, and accurate records of the rate of gain kept. Varia-tions in the time of weighing and the normal condition of thesheep at that time were strictly avoided. Before commencingthe experiments the sheep were given a preliminary feeding oftwo weeks to accustom them to the feeds forming their rations.CLOVER HAY VERSUS NATIVE HAY.Outline of Experiment.Four lots of sheep were used, five in each lot. Two lotscomprised ewe lambs; the others, two to three-year-old ewes.The lambs all belonged to some mutton breed, namely, Hamp-shire, Southdown, Dorset Horn and Shropshire, there being anequal number of specimens of the different breeds in both lots.The aged ewes were Rambouillets and Natives, the latter repre-senting the ordinary grade stock in New Hampshire. Noneof them were with lamb.Both lots of lambs were fed an equal quantity of grain of asimilar character (corn, bran and oats in equal parts by weight)and of turnips. In addition one lot was given clover hay; theother, an equal quantity of native hay. With the aged ewesthe same plan was followed except that the hay composed thebulk of the ration, turnips only being fed besides.N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152Lot I.—Fed Clover HayCOMPOSITION OF NATIVE HAY.The name, native hay, is somewhat misleading. It was usedfor lack of a better title to distinguish it readily from the cloverhay. The native hay of New Hampshire is usually nothingmore nor less than wornout timothy hay or pasture, where thenatural grasses have taken almost entire possession of the land.It may, however, also constitute hay harvested from meadowswhere cultivated grasses have never been sown. The physicalcomposition is by no means uniform. It varies considerablyaccording to its timothy content or the length of time that haselapsed since it was first seeded.Timothy in itself is not suitable as a feed for sheep, and often-times in native hay the presence of large quantities of timothygives to it its low feeding value. One of the main objectionsto timothy for sheep is its lack of palatability. Sheep do notcare for it and, if placed upon a large timothy ration, will noteat sufficiently of it to make substantial gains. In fact, fre-quently under such conditions, the gains are negative.The sample of native hay obtained for the feeding test wasfairly typical of what prevails throughout the state. A physicalanalysis was made, and the following grasses distinguished:Jan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS.TABLE 1.—MIXTURE OF GRASSES COMPOSING NATIVE BAY.Common Name.N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152TABLE 4.-BI-WEEKLY WEIGHTS OF LAMBS.Lot.Jan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS.TABLE 5.—SUMMARY OF GAINS.Lot I.10 x. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152Lot III—Fed Clover HayLot IV.—Fed Native HayJan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS. 11CHARACTER AND AMOUNTS OF FEED.Corn, bran and oats, in equal parts by weight made up thegrain mixture. Its average composition is represented inTable 6.TABLE 6—AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF ONE POUND OF GRAIN MIXTURE.Water(lbs).12 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152carried through the winter upon clover and native hay, whenfed practically alone, and make at the same time substantialand profitable gains. It is true that with the clover hay fairlygood increases in weight were obtained, yet that these gainswere as economically made as though grain were fed in connectionwith the ration, is to be doubted. Since this experiment pro-vides no direct evidence wherefrom comparisons in this respectmay be drawn, as the lambs, which were fed grain, naturallywould make greater gains anyway than the aged sheep, yet therelative cost of grain and hay in New Hampshire affords sufficientdata for fairly accurate deductions. The cost of all classes of hay,except clover, in this state in 1909 was approximately a cent apound ($20 per ton) and of grain, such as is used for sheep, on anaverage about a cent and a half a pound. The relative differencein price is exceedingly small, when account is taken of thegreater increases in weight it is recognized grain will produce.Therefore, in New Hampshire, from the standpoint of economy,unless the prevailing prices of feeds completely change, the planof attempting to winter sheep on hay alone, especially withlambs and pregnant ewes, should never be practised.Turnips were fed in conjunction with all the rations to providesucculence and to give to the feed a laxative tone.TABLE 8—DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS AND NUTRITIVE RATIOS OF RATIONS.'Lot. Ration.PoundsJan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS. 13ble carbohydrates, consequently producing a wide nutritiveratio—wider by far than that for clover hay Nor are thedigestion coefficients for the native hay so high as for the clover.COST OF RATIONS AND GAINS.TABLE 9—POUNDS OF DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS FOR 100 POUNDS INCREASE IN WEIGHT.Lot. Ration. DryMatter.14 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152TABLE 11.—COMPARISON AS TO COST OF RAT40NS.Lot.Jan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS. 15Lot I.—Fed Dry RationsTURNIPS VERSUS DRY RATION.Outline of Experiment.Ten ewe lambs were selected and divided into two lots, con-taining two Shropshires, two Dorsets and one Hampshire ineach lot. One lot (lot I) was fed grain and clover hay; the other(lot II), grain, clover hay and turnips. The amount of grainand clover hay given to lot II was reduced to correspond incost of ration to that of lot I. In amounts of digestible nutrientsthere was little difference between the two rations. However,the ration of lot I (without turnips) possessed a slight advantagein this respect.Each lamb in lot I was given per day a ration consisting of1 pound of grain (oats, bran and corn in equal parts by weight)and 2 pounds of clover hay; lot II, ^ of a pound of the samegrain mixture, 1 34 pounds of clover hay and 5 pounds of turnips.The daily cost of each ration amounted to 3 Yi cents a day,and the cost for the entire feeding period of 98 days, approxi-mately $3.50.WEIGHTS AND GAINS OF LAMBS.The lambs of both lots possessed at the beginning of theexperiment fairly uniform weights. They had previously beenfed together on the same rations. Fortnightly records of theirweights had been kept, and it was impossible to distinguish anymaterial difference in their rates of increase. Consequently,the feeding trial may be considered a fair test of the value ofturnips in a winter ration.16 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152TABLE 12.—BI-WEEKLY WEIGHTS OF LAMBS.Lot.Jan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAM US. 17Lot II—Fed TurnipsCHARACTER AND AMOUNTS OF FEED.The grain mixture was similar to the one used in ExperimentI. (For composition see Table 6.)TABLE 14—COMPOSITION OF RATIONS.Lot. Ration.Poundsper daypersheep.Water(lbs.).Ash(lbs.).18 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 152TABLE 15—DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS AND NUTRITIVE RATIOS OF RATIONS.*Lot. Ration.Jan., 1911] FEEDING SHEEP AND LAMBS. 19that lies in overfeeding or attempting to make them constitutethe bulk of the ration. Turnips, on account of their watery-nature, are not in themselves a substantial food. When extrava-gantly fed, they are apt to render the ration too laxative andproduce scouring. Besides, to pregnant ewes heavy overfeedingof turnips will not infrequently cause them to bring forth lambsthat are flabby or weakly. Four pounds per day to a sheep,however, is a safe limit.Mangels and sugar beets, although rather more palatable andsheep prefer them slightly to turnips, are for rams expresslyunsuited, as they are conducive to the deposition of calculiin the kidneys, bladder and urethral tract.* These calculi arecomposed chiefly of calcium phosphate, are irritative to theurinary organs and will frequently attain sufficient size to closecompletely the urethral tract, causing in consequence the certaindeath of the ram. Turnips apparently have no such ill effect.To recapitulate, turnips reduce the cost of mutton production,aid in the digestion of the fibrous foods and keep the sheep in ahealthy and vigorous physical condition. They are a boon inthe ration inasmuch as they prevent constipation and manyother resultant ills, which so frequently occur when sheep arechanged from pasture to dry feed. It must, however, always beborne in mind that turnips should be supplied only as a supple-mentary feed to give to the winter ration the slightly laxativeeffect of pasture.* Bulletin 112, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station.—Influence of feeding sugar beets and mangels tobreeding animals with special reference to the formation of renal and urinary calculi.630.7211532no •152-168 DATE DUEA fine of Two Cents will be charged for each day thebook is kept overtime.jFEB 1 1 *' ___.:J

Feeding sheep and lambs: clover hay v. native hay; turnips v. dry ration, Bulletin, no. 152

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Feeding sheep and lambs: clover hay v. native hay; turnips v. dry ration, Bulletin, no. 152

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