RELATION OF FLEECE TO FATTENING.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2081, 3 January 1879, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELATION OF FLEECE TO FATTENING.

A foreign correspondent of the " American Farmer" refers to a aeries of intereatign experiments by M. De Henneberg, of the Agricultural Station G>>ttingen, who selected four lots of sheep of four each to determine how far the fattening proces was affected by ihe removal or retention of the fleece. The animals employed in the experiments were crossing* of Hampshire, Southdown, and Rambouillet rums with hardy local breeds, and one lot entirely of ■the latter. Two win i mils in each lot were sheared. The fattening lasted 85 day*, and the food — uniformly and scientifically calculated as to the fat and meatproducing effect* — consisted of lucerne hay, oaten straw, beet, crashed maize, and sesamum cake. When slaughtered, no marked difference existed in reference to the production of meat and fat. The oftadvanced opinion, that shearing sheep before commencing to fatten assists the latter process, is not borne out by these experiment?. Taking the food in iti tense of dry matters, every hundredweight yielded about ten pounds of flesh, and tbiry pounds of manure — the quantity of the latter being uniform for all the lots. The conclusion of the eminent experimenter is, that the slight pecuniary gain was in favor of the undipped aniiials, and that preliminary shearing is of no advantage where shedsadaptcd to fattening secure a temperature of 54 degrees F.