Bulletin No.

080

Document Type

Bulletin

Department

Department of Agriculture and Soil Physics

Description

The production of a high class of meat products from the raw materials at hand should be the aim of every stockman in the state. Of all the animals on the farm the sheep is regarded by many as the most profitable, not only from the fact that it will convert, economically, the grains and forage plants into higher selling products, but also because it has no equal as a weed destroyer and a general improver of the farm. Of the six hundred or more different weeds and grasses found on our prairies and cultivated fields, the sheep will eat nearly all. The days of raising sheep in large flocks in this state, for the feeder market, is slowly passing away. However, numerous flocks of pure-breeds are being started, and this line of improvement is keeping pace with the gradual change that is being made, from the extensive to the intensive mode of farming. Good profits have been realized during the past winter by the raisers and feeders of sheep because of the brisk demand for mutton from foreign countries. This demand, according to the report of the Foreign Markets Division, Department of Agriculture, was brought about by a falling off of the imports into England from her colonies. During the first three months of the present year there were 2,399,922 pounds more of mutton exported from the United States than during the corresponding months one year ago. While this large increase is unusual and was no doubt the cause of the prevailing high price of mutton, good fat lambs are always in demand. This experiment was undertaken in order to determine the relative feeding value of some of the newer grains recently introduced into this state, as compared with those of a more staple nature; and also the benefit, if any, of grinding the same when fed to lambs under the same conditions.

Keywords

sheep, lambs, fattening sheep, mutton, lamb feeding, grass fed sheep

Pages

27

Publication Date

5-1903

Type

text

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

Publisher

South Dakota Agricultural College, Experiment Station

Comments

Department of Animal Husbandry

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