162 THE TREATMENT OF BOHDER 



recurring ; without a drawing or demonstration it is, however, 

 impossible to explain the operation. 



After Lambixg. 



"When ewes and twins are turned on to " seeds " just after 

 lambing, the shepherd will find it of great help to mark the 

 lambs. While they are young and weak, and their mothers go 

 about feeding, they invariably get huddled up, and it is now the 

 shepherd's duty to " mother " them. Without the aid of marks 

 this is a difficult matter. ]\Iany shepherds are able to tell which 

 lambs belong to any particular ewe, but the difficulty is to match 

 the twins, and therefore to save time, the lambs are marked with 

 a bit of keil or haematite iron ore. Each pair of twins should be 

 keiled with a distinctive mark, so that, however widely separated 

 in the field, they may be brought together and placed with their 

 mother. If marks are not resorted to, a great deal of time is 

 wasted in properly pairing and mothering the lambs, but by the 

 above system nothing can be more easy. When the ewe hoggs 

 comp„off the turnip break about the 20th of April, it will be neces- 

 sary to select or draw seven score for the Leicester flock, and six 

 score for the half-bred flock. Where eighteen score of Leicester 

 ewes are kept, there will be usually twelve score of ewe hoggs, out 

 of these the shepherd must proceed to draw all the small indifferent 

 sheep, and all those which have bad fleeces, weak constitutions 

 (shown by pink noses and white feet) blue faces, bad ears and necks 

 or woolly heads and legs. The five score of hoggs which remain 

 are placed on good permanent pasture to fatten for market, or 

 are sent amongst the wether hoggs where they will have better 

 keep. The ewe hoggs selected for breeding purposes are placed 

 upon good pasture where they will be kept in good condition 

 until clipping time, after which they are called gimmers and are 

 then well kept until placed with the ram in October. 



On farms where tups are bred, where there are say eighteen 

 score of ewes kept, if the farmer wishes to feed fifty tups he 

 must draw eishtv lambs at castratinf^ time. These, until 

 weaned, should have good pasture, and then cake and beans 

 gradually given until April the year following. They are then 

 brought forward on two pounds of cake and beans until clipj^ing 

 time, at which time those which do not come up to the standard 

 of perfection should be sold fat. From this time to September, 

 they must be gradually forced on, and in the beginning of 

 August cabbages or tares should be given to finish them for the 

 ram sales. We need not here enter into the much vexed ques- 

 tion of trimming and clipping tups. 



In going over the lambs to choose those suitable for tups, the 

 shepherd must attend to a few points concerning which the farmer 



