Authors

J.W. Wilson

Bulletin No.

165

Document Type

Bulletin

Department

Department of Animal Husbandry

Description

This bulletin includes the results of two experiments in feeding corn silage to lambs. It also includes results of other experiments in feeding lambs at this Station and reported in previous bulletins now out of print. The sheep is the plant scavenger of the farm, and will eat nearly all plants during some stage of their growth. Many plants that have become troublesome weeds on farms would be completely destroyed if the sheep were given a chance to eat them before seeding. Because of this peculiarity sheep raising is a profitable business. Then again, it has been found that a ton of sheep manure is worth $3.75. In other words, this amount of money is necessary to buy the plant food contained in one ton of sheep manure. The number of sheep in the United States in 1910 was 52,448,000 by the Census of 1910. In 1915 the estimate was only 49,956,000 sheep, a falling off of nearly 3,000,000 head, and yet the population of the United States has been gradually increasing. The cause of this big decrease is undoubtedly the opening for settlement of the range country in the middlewest, where many of the sheep were formerly produced. From June 30, 1912, to June 30, 1914, there was a decrease of 36,522 pounds in the exportation of mutton from the United States. By the official estimate of the United States Department of Agriculture, there were 604,000 sheep in South Dakota on January 1, 1916, compared to 636,000 one year ago. These same estimates show that during this time this is the only kind of livestock that has decreased in numbers within the state.

Keywords

livestock feed, silage, lambs, corn feed

Pages

16

Publication Date

1-1916

Type

text

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

Publisher

South Dakota Experiment Station, South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts

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