SHEEP FEEDING EXPERI MENT.

Shannon News, 23 January 1925, Page 4

SHEEP FEEDING EXPERI MENT.

♦ ■— < VALUE OF FERTILIZERS. An experiment with sheep on grassland treated with artificial manures has been carried out under the auspices of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture. A field of 15& acres was divided up into four plots as follows: — Plot I—s1 —5 acres. —No manure. Plot 2—3& acres —Basic slag (SO per cent.), at the rate of 6 cwts per acre. Plot 3 — '&l acres —Basic slag (30 per cent.), at the rate of 6 cwts. per acre, and Kainit at the rate of 4 cwts per acre.

Plot 4— 3 h acres—Basic slag at the rate of lo cwts. per acre.

The soil was black-topped, and had been laid away to grass three years prior to the start of the experiment There was a fair amount of clover present, but generally the herbage was poor, and rough. The manures were applied in March 1923. On May 31, 1924, a nuoPber of half-bred ewe hoggets newly clipped were weighed and put on the various plots. Plot 1 had 13, and the remaining three 12 each, On June 21, three weeks later, the stock were increased by 5 on Plot 1 and 3 on each of the others. The plots were inspected at intervals during the summer. Owing to the exceptionally wet season there was abundant grass on all the plots, land. differences between them were not' so marked as one would have desired or expected. While none of the; manured plots were outstanding, Plot a was, if. anything, the best so far as appearance went. It appeared fresher, had more clover, and a better bottom. All the manured plots were superior to the one which was untreated.

On October- 11 the hoggets were removed from the plots and weighed, and the resulting increases in live for the period May 31 to October 11 were as follows: Plot I—lß sheep— 6cwts. 171bs„ or 38Jibs, per sheep, representing again of 1371b5.,/per acre. Plot 2 —15 sheep—Scwts. lqr. 21bs., or 39$lbs. per sheep, representing a gain of 168 Jibs., per acre, i Plot 3—15 sheep—Bcwts. 3qra 241bs jar 44£lbs. per sheep representing a gain of 190 Jibs, per acre. I Plot 4 —15 sheep—6cwts. 161b5., or 45£lbs., per sheep, representing a gain of 196|1b5., per acre. ; When the cost of the manures is taken into consideration (basic slag (30 per cent) 50/- per ton; kainit 45/ per ton at 1923 prices) and neglecting the cost of carriage and labour, it will be noted that Plot 2 produced 31§lbs., more of live weight increase per acre than Plot lata cost of sftd per lb.; Plot 3, 5321b5., per acre more than Plot 1 at a cost of s|d p#r more than Plot 1 at a cost of 5d per lb. It must be borne in mind, however, that these costs per lb. of live weight increase can only serve for comparison of " the relative value of the different dressings. Neither slag nor kainit is exhausted in the soil in one year: the benefit derived from them is spread over a number of years.

. It is hoped that arrangements may be made to continue the experiment for one or two seasons, and it is pro-' 1 bable that a change of season may materially alter or modify the results already obtained. An interesting feature of the experiment was the fact that, although confined to restricted grazings, all the sheep were sound in their feet. This was true of those on the unmanured plot as well as of those on the three which were manured.