LEICESTER EWES AND LAMBS. 141 



udder clap, which has ruptured or " broken down," or has a bad 

 mouth, should be drafted and sent to a field where it will fatten 

 for the butcher. In addition to these causes for drafting, any of 

 the following defects render a ewe unfit' for the purpose of 

 breeding: — Faults of fleece, form or character, bareness of the 

 hair on the crown of the head, or what is generally called 

 *' blueness " of the head, deficiency in eyesight, and casting lamb, 

 which latter may be expected to occur again. 



It is not probable that every ewe flock will present so many 

 causes for drafting ; nor is it possible, seeing that a certain 

 number of breeding ewes must be retained, for the farmer to 

 remove every sheep which does not attain to his standard of 

 perfection. This being the case, the number of gimmers suitable 

 for breeding purposes should be ascertained, and the old ewes 

 drafted accordingly. To give an example of this : — In a breeding 

 stock of sixteen score of half-bred ewes there should be left, 

 after drafting, ten score of young first and second crop ewes, 

 which, with six score of gimmers drawn in April, will maintain 

 the sixteen score which it is usual for the farm to keep up. 

 This flock is now placed upon ordinary pasture until drawn to 

 the tup in October. 



To return to the treatment of those ewes which have been 

 drafted after weaning. Any of the old or " three-crop " ewes 

 which have bad mouths, &c., are placed upon good pasture, 

 where they should receive additional feeding to bring them on 

 quickly for the butcher. Those three-crop ewes which, on the 

 other hand, have good mouths and udders are placed upon good 

 pasture until September, when it is customary in Northumber- 

 land to send them to draft markets in Yorkshire, or to draft ewe 

 sales held at Kelso, Coldstream, and other places, where they 

 realise from 50s. to 60s., according to condition or name. At 

 the Yorkshire markets they are purchased by holders of luxuriant 

 grass pasture, who take another crop of lambs, and then feed 

 mothers and young for the fat market. Under this treatment 

 the ewes will increase in size by almost a quarter of their 

 previous bulk, even the wool becoming much longer tlian it was 

 while on the poorer pasture of their native county. 



The farmer having now decided u})on those ewes and gimmers 

 whicli lie intends to breed from, must endeavour to provide 

 them with good and sullicient food for the purpose of securing a 

 good C¥op of lambs. Two or tliree weeks before the 10th of 

 October, which is a common time for sending the tup among 

 Leicester ewes, they should be ])laced on good pasture, whicli 

 many farmers consider to be all that is necessary. To produce 

 a large crop of lambs, with i»lenty of "double couples," as they 

 are called, each ewe should receive daily of bran ami oats half 

 a pound, or one load of turnips daily to every sixty ewes may 



