156 THE TKEA.TMENT OF BORDEH 



as this could only arise from carelessness, as, had the first lamber 

 turned the ewe when he placed her in the pen at night, either 

 to pull the wool from the udder or suckle the lambs, he would 

 have found out his mistake at once. 



It must not be supposed that it is always a simple matter to 

 entice a ewe into one of the parricks ; on the contrary, it is 

 often a most difficult tEisk. After a ewe has lambed, she will 

 frequently rise up and go straight off without once looking at 

 her lambs, and, do what he will, the lamber cannot get her to 

 follow the lambs into a pen. In this case he must have recourse 

 to his lambing-crook, which should be always at hand for such 

 emergencies. Grasping this instrument firmly with both hands, 

 he must carefully approach the ewe from behind, and, taking a 

 good aim, suddenly hook up the " near " liind leg of the ewe, 

 the hock of which will be held by the crook. On feeling that 

 the crook holds the lamber must run forward, slipping the 

 handle of the crook through his hand, and catch the ewe by 

 the leg ; then, dropping the crook, he guides her with his other 

 hand to the parrick, into which he has previously placed the 

 lambs. He must now suckle the lambs, for probably the ewe 

 will have nothing to do with them ; but after the milk gets 

 through their bodies she will generally recognise them as her 

 own. Should the ewe not take to her lambs even after they 

 have been suckled, she must be kept in the pen until she does 

 so. To accomplish this the lamber must halter her to the side 

 of the parrick exactly in the same manner as he would do a 

 horse, and with a halter of light rope constructed upon the same 

 principles. Some tie up one of the ewe's legs either to her own 

 body or to the side of the pen, but the halter system is much 

 better although it is not nearly so common. As long as the ewe 

 is confined to her parrick, she must be regularly supplied with 

 roots and corn or her milk will fail. If these points are attended 

 to, she will take to her lambs in a day or two, and may then be 

 turned on to a " seed " field. Duriuu; one season with a flock of 

 ewes it is surprising to find what a variety of difficult cases occur 

 to try the skill and patience of the lamber ; not only are there 

 bad presentations, but deformities are only too often common. 



Some of the presentations which frequently cause difficulty in 

 lambing may be described : — Having shown how a case where 

 the head alone is forward may be rectified, w^e shall describe the 

 opposite, which also is often encountered. The forelegs are 

 found thrust out to the shoulders, and the head is bent back and' 

 retained in the vagina. From the throes of the ewe it is often 

 impossible to replace them so as to get up the head of the lamb. 

 When this is the case the lamber should cut a rincj round the 

 lamb's legs above the knee, and the skin being thus severed the 

 legs may be pulled away from the shoulder joint. When this is 



