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EXPERIMENTS IN SHEEP FEEDING.

Twelve half-blood Cotswold sheep, selected for feeding, were put in the pens, at the south end of the sheep barn, the second day of November, 1867. The pens were numbered from one to six, two sheep being placed in each. Sheep No. 1, in pen No. 1, and sheep No. 1, in pen No. 2, were ewes; the rest were wethers. Pens No. 5 and 6 were occupied by the same animals as in the experiments of the year 1867. (See Report of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture for 1867, pages 51 and 52.)

The sheep in all the pens were got by a pure-bred Cotswold ram, out of common ewes, (grade Merinos.) The sheep in pens No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 were from five and one-half to six and one-half months old; those in pens No. 5 and 6 were between eighteen and nineteen months old. Each sheep was weighed at the beginning of the experiment, and at the close of each week. These weekly weighings were made in the morning, before feeding or watering, so as to avoid any variations that might occur from a difference in the amount of undigested food in the stomach.

The feed for each pen was carefully weighed each day at the time of feeding, and particular care was taken to prevent any waste after feeding. "Chaffed" hay was fed in each pen, so that each sheep had all it would eat; if any remained in the boxes, it was taken out, carefully weighed, and deducted from the amount fed. In addition to the chaffed hay, each pen was supplied with a fixed ration of other feed, as follows:

Pen No. 1. Shelled corn and roots, cut in narrow slices.

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The hay feed was a mixture of clover and timothy; the corn was of the variety known as the yellow dent; and the roots were Skirving's Improved Swede turnip.

The weights of the sheep at the beginning of the experiment and at the close of each week, are shown in table No. 1. The weights are given in pounds and decimals of a pound.

TABLE No. 1.

WEIGHT OF SHEEP AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EXPERIMENT, AND AT THE CLOSE OF EACH WEEK.

DATE OF WEIGHING. PEN NO. 1. PEN NO. 2. PEN No. 3. PEN No. 4. PEN No. 5. PEN No. 6.

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TABLE No. 1.-CONTINUED.

DATE OF WEIGHING. PEN No. 1. PEN No. 2. PEN NO. 3. PEN No. 4. PEN No.5 PEN No. 6.

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TABLE No. 1. CONTINUED.

DATE OF WEIGHING. PEN No. 1. PEN No. 2. PEN No. 3. PEN No. 4. PEN No. 5 PEN No. 6.

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