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Show Los Angeles Union Stock Yards, April 24 North and east shipments ship-ments of California lambs during March amounted to 55,000 head, the largest nuiriber on record for this month. Since an excellent lamb crop percentage was reported report-ed from most districts of California, Califor-nia, shipments cf lambs are expected ex-pected to continue heavy through April. Average weights are lighter light-er than usual, with the exception of the north coast region and t the Imperial valley. Because of unsatisfactory feed conditions throughout most of California lamb sections, a much larger per-. per-. centage cf the spring lamb crop is selling as feeder lambs than is usually the case. In the San i Joanuin valley, where usually 75 percent of the lambs are fat when sold, this year it is estimated that I only 25 percent are being sold as fat lambs. ( Shortage of feed this year, with I resultant high percentage of feed-;cr feed-;cr lambs, has impressed sheepmen with the .possibilities of creep feeding. Creep feeding is regarded regard-ed by those who are acquainted with it as insurance of a high percentage per-centage of fat lambs. Most sheepmen sheep-men who creep feed do it year in and year out, believing that it is I profitable in good feed years as well as in poor. j Whole red milo is an excellent feed to use in creeps for lambs, ac- cording to information presented at Sheep Field day held recently in California. It is the usual custom cus-tom to start lambs at three weeks on 110 pound daily, gradually working up to 34 pounds, at 12 weeks. Lambs marketed at 14 weeks of age usually consume less than 50 pounds of grain per head. In one band of more than 1300 head that were creep fed, only five lambs were marketed as feeders. This particular band sold at the average price of $7.18 per head, dressed one percent to two percent niore than other lamlbs, and had less than four pounds shrinkage going east. Lambs are put in the creep usually in the evening, being left for half an hour, and then allowed to graze until dark. Grain is fed dry, and the troughs carefully cleaned after each feeding. When started on one feed, it is difficult to change the lamlbs to another kind of feed. An abundance of water is essential for successful creep feeding. Feeding lambs have been selling at $7.25 to $7.50 per cwt., while fat lamlbs are bringing from $8.50 to $8.75 for the bulk, with the best lambs at $9.00. A spread of at least $1.00 per cwt. in this case is found between the prices of feeder and fat lambs, in itself enough to cover the cost of creep feeding. Heavier weights as a result of creep feeding mean additional profit pro-fit to the sheepman. The fact that those who are creep feeding their lambs are pleased and expect to continue indicates that it is a sensible practice. |