iHiSrORIGAL SOCIETY
X OF MONTANA
NA
\Co
Sept 15, 1949
f
r
3 I
ai '
h '
m
It's Lamb Feeding Time
Margins May Be Close
But Lambs Are Scarce
Demand Should Be Good
Æ
»siSSI'
. -
i ■
,v
By DAN THURBER
WHEN OCT. 1 COMES around and the
frost is on the pumpkin, when the sugar
beet leaves turn yellow and stubble fields
are brown, it's fall and time to put into ac
tion all those plans you've made for feed
ing lambs this winter.
Fattening lambs for market is essentially
a winter time enterprise adapted to irri
gated farms in Montana. The project has
many features which recommend it highly
to any farmer on irrigated land who has
surplus feed for sale and who wishes to
maintain or increase the producing ability
of his farm land by building a reserve of
plant food.
Added to these factors must be the "lik
ing" for sheep and some of the know-how
of managing a feed lot. Expensive and elab
orate equipment is not essential. Good cor
rals and pens well arranged to give ready
access to both feed and water with a mini
mum of labor are advantageous, but such
need not be costly.
Convert Surplus Feeds
Experience has proven that there is
no belter way to convert surplus feeds,
those which cannot be sold on the open
market, into a cash return than to feed
them to lambs. Such feed as grain in
stubble fields, tops from sugar beets,
third cutting alfalfa hay and field
growth which comes on after grain har
vest has no cash market as is.
In order to get money from these feeds it
is necessary to convert them into a finished
product. Lamb chops constitute one fin
ished product which can best be made from
these feeds.
Good feeder lambs are scarce and high in
price this year, costing 20 to 21 cents per
pound. By this same token, 90 days from
Oct, 1, when fat lambs are ready to sell, 1
they should be few in numbers and rela
tively high in dollar value.
The United States lamb crop is 6 percent
below 1948, which means there are 18,906,
000 fewer lambs available than a year ago.
Allowing for the heavy replacements which
must be made from the ewe lambs, available
feeders will be short much more than 6
percent. The shortage is general through
out the entire United States and can be at
tributed to an 8 percent reduction in ewes
1 year old and over on Jan. 1.
Smallest Lamb Crop
In the 13 western sheep producing states
the crop is 5 percent smaller than last year.
It is the smallest crop on record and 35
percent below the 10-year average.
G33ESM
MONTANA
T
THERN
WYOMING
• 3 !'
mm
mm
g
1
1
1
1
I
1
I
I
§
.
I
■
*
I
I
I
'4
Montana's lamb crop of 1,232,000 is the
smallest of record, a reduction of 3 percent
from 1948 and 1,463,000 less than the all
time high of 2,695,000 produced in 1944.
That's only about half the lambs we had
five years ago.
If scarcity makes a good market, and
it nearly always does, farmers who have
fat lambs for sale this year should be
in the best position ever to realize a
profit from their surplus labor and
feed.
Feeding Score
A feeder starting out with a flock of
1,000 lambs weighing 70 pounds, may under
ordinary conditions, expect results like
this—
Oct. 1, lambs received on the farm and
turned on beet tops and stubble fields.
mmm
I
:
American
Network Oct. 1
For Details See Page IS
mS
*
V
i :
• III
v
%
*
&P
f.
%
■.„v, <
yp,
Fn : Ijï
ft "
Æ
mW'I
Spring lambs such as
the fellow pictured
above were fewer in
number this year than
ever before. This was
true for the nation as
well as for Montana and
Wyoming. With careful
management the oper
ator who has the sur
plus feed should find it
profitable to convert it
to lamb chops with a
lamb feeding program
this year.
m
ip*
For 60 days on good feed they will gain Va
pound per day, putting on a total of 15
pounds in two months. By Dec. 1 the lambs
will weigh 85 pounds and are ready for the
dry lot.
Here they should be put on grain feed
gradually and a good feeder will get them
to eat 1.5 pounds of grain, Va pound oil meal
and about 2 pounds of hay per day, or 3%
pounds of feed per day.
On this ration they will gain 10 pounds
per month and by Feb. 1 will weigh 105
pounds without shrink. Take off 5 pounds
for shrink and you have a 100-pound fat
lamb which is a very choice and very mar
ketable product made largely from surplus
feed and during a time when labor is also
surplus.
Costs Score
The 20 cent lamb costs $14. The field
gains at 12 cents per pound (Milk River
Valley price) and assuming a gain of 15
pounds, cost $1.68. Feed lot gains cost 3
cents per day for 1.5 pounds of grain, and
3 cents for 2 pounds of $30 hay plus 1 cent
for Va pound oil meal at $80 per ton. The
total daily feed cost thus is 7 cents per head,
and with a daily gain of .3 pounds makes a
cost per pound of 21 cents. The 20 pounds
gain in the feed (Please turn to page 4)