144 THE TKEATiMENT OF BORDER 



week he places the mark on the rib, but at the third week no 

 mark is imprinted, then at the fourth week, and afterwards, the 

 breast of the tup is keiled, or rather blackened, with a mixture 

 of soot and oil, so that those ewes which will be late lambers 

 are readily recognised. As some of the ewes served in the first 

 or second week will again come in season and be served by the 

 blackened tup, the attendant will have little difficulty in know- 

 ing them seeing that they bear the black mark as well as those 

 ewes served during the fourth week. The black stain imprinted 

 at this period remains on the fleece until lambing time ; this 

 being the case no error can occur. For sure work the tup should 

 be fresh keiled once or twice a day, and if this be done the 

 shepherd will be able to keep the statistics of his flock with 

 perfect accuracy. 



That the offspring of the different sires employed may be 

 compared after lambing, it is advisable to mark the separate 

 lots of ewes either with different paint, or upon other parts of 

 the body from those with the other tups. Again, we can follow 

 up our knowledge of the parents when selecting lambs for tups 

 or ewe-hoggs for the breeding stock. If, unknown to us, one of 

 the rams has had a -predisposition to inherent disease, it will 

 show itself in his offspring, and thus we are warned, not only to 

 get rid of him, but against using his lambs for breeding purposes. 

 Should the offspring of another ram, on the other hand, turn out 

 as desired, we not only prize him, but are careful to retain his 

 good qualities in the flock by using his lambs as ewes, and by 

 raising his progeny for selling-tups we not only benefit ourselves 

 but our neii^hbours also. 



After four weeks or thereabout have elapsed, the tups should 

 be removed from the ewes and placed upon good pasture, as they 

 will have lost condition during the tupping season. At this 

 time the gimmers and thin ewes are put on behind the feeding 

 hoggs to eat off the turnip " shells " which they leave behind. 

 At night they are turned on to a lea-field intended for oats, 

 where, by their droppings, they help to manure it. This method 

 of treatment is continued until January, at which time the 

 hoggs are fed with cut turnips. Shells are those parts of the 

 turnips left below ground when the sheep have eaten the upper 

 half. The shells are picked out of the ground by the shepherd 

 with an implement made for the purpose. 



While the gimmers and thin ewes are on "shells," the 

 remainder of the ewes receive turnip-shaws upon lea until 

 December, and after that date turnips. In January the worst of 

 the gimmers and thin ewes are placed with the ewe hoggs on the 

 " break," that is, they are netted on turnips. The other gimmers 

 are kept separate and fed with turnips on lea, in fact prefer- 

 ence should be given to gimmers, as regards feeding, all through. 



