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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



herd. But, as a rule, the mafernal affections seem to 

 be niuch dependent upon the flow of milk ; and the 

 shenherd, seeing that the well-filled udder is his best 

 friend, never ceases to tease the farmer into large grants 

 of cake and corn for the sucklers. Care should have 

 been previously taken to divest the region of the udder 

 of all wool ; for its presence in the stomach of the lamb 

 is a certain cause of death. Having exercised even 

 great care in this particular, I have lost many lambs. 

 The symptoms are, violent working in the body, with 

 frothing at the mouth. 



The first aim of the shepherd is to ensure for every 

 lamb, as soon as possible after birth, a good drink of 

 warm milk : this once accomplished, he rapidly increases 

 in strength and ability to bear cold weather. 



In the case of shearling ewes, who usually have a 

 scant supply of milk, cows' milk is resorted to. New 

 milk is supplied to them by means of bottles fitted with 

 a mouth-piece, through which the lambs suck ; or there 

 are other modes of administering the lacteal stream of 

 life : but the chemical constituents of cows' milk and 

 ewes' milk, meeting in the stomachs of lambs, certainly 

 do not agree well. Particularly they do not where the 

 cow from which the milk is obtained has calved recently. 

 Ewe-milk is poor in butter, but rich in curd ; which is 

 known to be the character of that of cows calved six 

 months, and not again pregnant. 



Should a ewe show indisposition to allow her lamb to 

 suck, her udder should be examined. If it is hot and 

 hard, exhibiting tumorization, fomentations, with the 

 internal administration of Epsom salts, will be useful, 

 followed by the vigorous thumps of the lamb, dispers- 

 ing the tumour and promoting the flow of milk. Cam- 

 phor and spirits of wine and Castile soap are a stronger 

 remedy. 



There is another troublesome piece of business for 

 the shepherd at this time — I mean the Mothering of 

 Lambs. This has to be done when a ewe dies, leaving 

 lambs ; when the lambs die, leaving a good flow of milk 

 behind them, for the benefit of the wee things that are 

 left destitute ; or when a fine ewe, with abundance of 

 milk, has but a single lamb, while a poor or young ewe 

 has twins ; the shepherd seeing it best to break the poor 

 ewe's couple, giving twins to her that has the best 

 supply for them. If this is done when the lambs are 

 wet, there is no trouble involved ; but the effort to in- 

 duce a ewe to recognize a lamb that has been dropped 

 some days, is very trying to the patience. Various 

 methods are adopted to cheat the mothtrs, the shepherd 

 rubbing the body of the lamb to be received with the 

 body of the dead lamb, or (if in the case supposed last) 

 with the body of the live lamb. If this will not do, the 

 dead lamb is skinned ; and the stranger, invested in its 

 tegument, deceitfully obtains, like another Esau, the 

 parental blessing. Close confinement is usually neces- 

 sary to render these arts effective. 



Those lambs unsuccessful in this line of deception, 

 or, may-be, supernumeraries, depend upon the kind 

 attentions of the shepherd or the dairymaid. 



Before I pass from this portion of the subject, I must 

 remember to say that, if the shepherd's house is not near, 

 he should have access to some outhouse or moveable 

 shepherd's house, with a fire, before which, wrapped in 

 flannel, he may put such lambs as require this attention, 

 as many do, during those cold stormy nights when 

 lambs usually arrive in greatest abundance. 



I must also remark that, should a case of puerperal 

 fever occur, the shepherd must avoid touching the ewe 

 so afifected. If he has done so, some other person must 

 take his accoucheur-duties for a few days, as the malady 

 may be communicated to numbers of the flock by the 

 shepherd's hand. Same one else, too, must do all the 

 skinning, &c., during the lambing time. 



Castration and Docking. — Ten days to a month 

 after birth, all lambs not reserved for tups are to be cas- 

 trated. The parts have not at this age attained too 

 much rigidity, nor is the lamb so fat as to render fever 

 imminent from the operation. 



Authority says " it is best done early in the morning, 

 in a fresh breeze, and by no means should the lambs be 

 over-driven and heated previously." The modus operandi 

 is as follows : The captured lambs are one by one placed 

 with their backs upon the right shoulder of a stout lad, 

 who doubling the corresponding fore and hind legs to- 

 gether in either hand, holds them steady in that position 

 for the shepherd, who simply forces up the testicle with 

 his finger and thumb, slits the purse, seizes the testicle 

 between his teeth, and draws it out till the spermatic 

 cord is broken, and so on. There are other plans, but 

 none so simple as these. When the parts get too rigid 

 to allow of the operation being performed with safety, 

 silk thread is tied very tightly round the testicle, and 

 circulation being cut off, they drop off in process of 

 time. This seems a less barbarous, but more trouble- 

 some mode than the former. 



The opportunity is now taken to dock the tail, dividing 

 against the third joint. The object of this operation is 

 to keep the sheep clean bebind, which cannot be done 

 when they wear long tails. 



The lambs, after castration and docking, should not 

 be placed in hign lank grass, or on stubble, where the 

 parts can be irritated. Waving surmounted these diffi- 

 culties and risks, the shepherd may now begin to cal- 

 culate his successes. Stephens says, " He should not 

 be satisfied with his exertions unless he has preserved 

 one-half the number of ewes with twin lambs; nor 

 should he congratulate himself if he has lost a single 

 ewe in lambing." " In regard," says the same writer, 

 " to the yield of lambs of the Cheviot breed, it is con- 

 sidered a favourable result to rear a lamb to each ewe ; 

 with Southdowns a little more ; with black-faced ewes 

 18 lambs out of the score of ewes is perhaps as favour- 

 able. Cheviots yield a few pairs, Southdowns more, 

 black-faced ewes very few, while half the number of 

 Leicester ewes should have twin lambs." 



After-managkment. — So soon as the lambs are 

 fairly a-foot, their dams are turned with them into the 

 most forward piece of seeds, or to rape, rye, winter 

 oats, or water meadow ; the great point being to have 

 abundance of succulent green food for the ewes as soon 

 as they lamb. The ewes bite very closely, and eat con- 

 stantly while lambs are with them, so that they shortly 

 trim-off the grass or seed in a season unfavourable to 

 vegetation. This fact renders the farmer much uneasi- 

 ness ; for when the pasture looks brown, he knows that 

 he must either remove the flock, or, by keeping it where 

 it is, impoverish the lambs, and so bite into the heart 

 of the grass or seed, that the summer will pass before 

 it recovers from the treatment. 



The addition of a water-meadow to a farm is most 

 valuable at this season, for these will always have a sup- 

 ply of food when other pastures are bare. Matters 

 should so be arranged that there should be a succession 

 of fieldsfor the ewes and lambs, passing them on from one 

 to another, and so resting each piece alternately, which 

 will be found a more effectual method than that of 

 stocking all lightly, but continuously. In removing 

 lambs from a short to a full bite, caution is needed. It 

 should be accomplished, old hands say in dry weather 

 in the afternoon : else we have a flush of that 

 quality of milk which produces green-skit in lambs. 

 The premonitory symptoms of this malady are, general 

 dulness, watery eyes, and stiff joints ; half-an ounce 

 Epsom salts with half a drachm of ginger is the best 

 aperient remedy, to which may be added a table-spoon- 

 ful of cordial, consisting of equal parts of brandy and 



