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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



with such a keen destructive edge, during the last three 

 or four years, throughout the month of March, many of 

 the breeders in those districts have turned t"ae tups to 

 the ewes at the end of October, or the commencement of 

 November. I very much question, however, the bene- 

 fit received from the change. One early lamb is gene- 

 rally worth tioo late ones. 



Where high-prizad sheep are employed, as in the 

 case of a ram-breed«, another plan is sometimes adopted, 

 for the purpose of obtaining the greatest amount of ser- 

 vice from the ram, and more regularity of procedure. 

 The rams are kept in pens, while a iectzer, or imper- 

 fectly castrated sheep, is turned amongst the flock, and 

 those ewes seen to be in heat are brought up to the 

 rams selected for them. They are then numbered with 

 a brand, and a note is made of the date, &c. 



Ruddling. — It is well, that the shepherd may know 

 what the tups are about, to mark their breasts with rud- 

 dle for the first 17 days they are among the ewes, that 

 being the time of the periodical recurrence of heat, and 

 then to use soot. At lambing time the red-rumped ewes, 

 or those that conceived from the first copulation, are 

 brought into the fold, and the black-rumped ones after 

 the proper lapse of time. 



Choice of Food. — About a fortnight before ewes are 

 put to tup, they are removed from the stubbles and bare 

 pastures, and put upon the freshest pastures the 

 farm affords, or better still on rape. Failing rape or 

 coleseed they may be folded upon white turnips, or 

 turnips may be carted to them upon grass. Mixtures 

 of white mustard and coleseed, or white mustard 

 alone, are fuund very advantageous at this season. 

 When this better fare has begun to tell in their improved 

 condition, the tups are turned amongst them ; for under 

 such circumstances the ewes come to heat quickly, and 

 are more likely to conceive twins. And this quickness 

 to receive the male is more important than at first sight 

 appears, since the ram should be removed in three or 

 four weeks from the date of his admission, because 

 lambs begotten so long after the rest will not coincide 

 with them, are often sickly, and suffer from neglect. 

 For this reason poppy-cake, bruised and served in 

 troughs, is used by some, and other stimulants are 

 adopted. 



Ewes are then put upon moderate fare, care being 

 taken to avoid the extremes of fatness and poverty. 

 The poor ewe, if she lives through the season of parturi- 

 tion, dies with her lamb, from txhaustion subsequently, 

 while the fat ewe rarely escapes atacks of fever and in- 

 flammation, from which cause she sheds her wool, and 

 fails to nourish her lamb either before its birth or after- 

 wards. They do well run thinly on grass land, 1 or li 

 to an acre, with, when the frost sets in, a few turnips or 

 mangolds carted to them, and a rack filled with hay, 

 pea or barley straw, to run to. When the four-course 

 system is adopted, there is generally a necessity for 

 feeding ewes upon turnips, and they then follow the 

 fatting sheep, to eat up their scraps and shells. This 

 arrangement suits both lots, for Swedish turnips pro- 

 duce fatness on ewes more readily than other kinds. 

 As the lambing time approaches, the ewes should be re- 

 moved from the turnips to the grass or seed, receiving 

 there mangold wurtzel and a little oilcake or oats. It 

 may be remarked here that too much care cannot be 

 observed throughout the month of February, as to the 

 regularity in time of feeding, quantity and kind of food 

 given. 



A scant supply for a day or two, or a total and sudden 

 change from turnips to mangolds, for instance, would 

 be likely to produce serious results in the crop of lambs. 

 Sufficient attention is not paid to this fact. The wool 

 suffers as well as the lambs. 



Great care at this time should be taken to prevent the 



intrusion of dogs ; any cause likely to startle a ewe at 

 this period must be guarded against. Unless the shep- 

 herd's dog is a very silent reliable animal, I advise that 

 he should be tied up at this season. 



The shepherd must now look out for cast ewes ; for a 

 ewe to be long in this position may endanger her life, 

 or cause an awkward presentation at delivery. 



Preparations for Lambing. — The Shepherd.— 

 It may be thought curious that I start off, under this 

 head, with the shepherd ; but as upon his qualifications 

 depend so entirely the welfare of the flock, it is of the 

 greatest consequence that we have the right man in the 

 right place. There is no season like the lambing season 

 for trying a man's tact, knowledge, and patience. 

 During that season only, the skilful attentive servant 

 may save his year's wages ; and the comparative results 

 between the skill and attention, and inattention or blun- 

 dering assiduity, during a precarious time, are truly as- 

 tounding. Mr. Price and Mr. Youatt, both writers on 

 sheep, seem to regard as natural and proper treatment 

 on the shepherd's part many things that would display 

 a lamentable amount of ignorance and incapacity quite 

 incompatible with the burden of such a responsibility. 

 One instance is given by Mr. Price, of a flock of 800 

 ewes out of which only 100 pairs were saved; but that 

 with more skill the number of pairs afterwards increased 

 to 200. The improved skill of one man then saved 

 200 lambs, which would come to be worth £''200, 

 equalling the wages of at least four good shepherds ! 

 The shepherd's duties are no sinecure, and can be per- 

 formed by no ordinary man. Supposing him to have 

 attentively observed the tupping and registered the ewes, 

 and in conjunction with his master so regulated the 

 food as to have kept them in a healthy progressive state, 

 he has now to make all his preparations with a wise 

 foresight only to be gained by experience. The place to 

 lamb in is to be selected, and the time attended to. 

 Further, the requisite assistance, and no more, has to 

 be rendered at the proper instant of lambing, and the 

 lamb and the mother both assiduously watched for days 

 afterwards. Milk has to be given to lambs when 

 mothers are unkind or destitute of milk ; sickness of 

 various kinds has to be watchfully dealt with, and great 

 judgment is required in the breaking of pains and 

 mothering of ewes. Beyond this the operation of castra- 

 tion has to be performed at the proper state of the 

 animal's strength, in the proper state of the weather. 

 Attention to these duties rests almost entirely, 

 and in many cases entirely so, with the shep- 

 herd. Supposing then that by performing his part in 

 a skilful manner night and day, until the lambing is not 

 only entirely completed, but the lambs are beyond 

 danger, he saves the lives of ten ewes worth 40s. each 

 and of twenty lambs that would shortly be worth 20s. 

 each— no extravagant supposition in a large standing 

 flock of fifteen score ewes— it is clear that in so doing 

 he will save the amount of his wages. 



It is found that skill is better worth having, in a shep- 

 herd, even though, as is commonly the case, it is com- 

 bined with indolence, than the most conscientious and 

 untiring exertion without skill. Under the latter the 

 condition of ewes not unfrequently becomes too high, and 

 inflammation induced, or undue anxiety to help in time 

 of labour, increases the danger to the ewe, and the loss 

 to the master. Mr. Stephens acutely remarks—" Evils 

 will be prevented by skilful attention, and cured by 

 attentive skill." 



The man whose duty it is to shepherd a flock of Lei- 

 cester sheep or a flock nearly crossed with Leicesters, 

 will have more work than he who tends a flock of 

 Downs or Cheviots, simply because the e.ves from more 

 frequently lambing pairs, or producing square-built, 

 big lambs, require more assistance than the sheep of the 



