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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



cribs for this purpose, which is the cause of a full 

 crop of lambs being ofteu spoilt ia a single night, as 

 I shall presently prove to you. It is what I call 

 losing the goose to save its feathers. I say that a 

 good shepherd ought to watch for a rough night, and 

 remove his forward ewes to some place of shelter, as 

 a mariner would reef his sails at the coming of a 

 storm to save his ship. Some people will say, " My 

 sheep have not been folded in wet weather, but have 

 been hayed loose in a stubble field, and could go to 

 a sheltered fence if they chose ; but they are now 

 slipping their lambs, and I cannot account for it." 

 Very true ; but I say they will not go against the 

 weather to the sheltered hedge, but will be driven 

 away from their hay cribs, which, probably, arc out 

 in the middle of the field, and go before the wind 

 and rain until they get to the top of the field, where 

 they will be found in the morning in the most bleak 

 corner as thick as they can stand, up to their laiees 

 in mud, after a very wet night. This is where the 

 mischief is often done in a single night of such 

 weather as we have had in the course of last week. 

 Rather than they should be driven before the wind, 

 as I have said, I would prefer their being in a fold 

 of good size, as the hurdles wov\ld be some shelter 

 to them, if made long one way and narrow the other, 

 according to the wind. I have been now alluding to 

 Ijirge fields of cold, strong land, not to small fields 

 of dry, sandy land, which lie as level as a sheet of 

 water. If sheep are hayed in the sheltered side of 

 a level field they will remain there for the night, if 

 not driven off by dogs, or something to frighten them 

 away. But not so on our sideling hills, as they will 

 seldom lie at the low side, but draw away to the 

 most elevated parts ; therefore if ewes are allowed 

 to run loose, it should be in a field that rises towards 

 the wind, and then they will be sure to lie in a shel- 

 tered part for the night, if driven in the evening. 

 The same observation applies to a line of hurdles 

 across a field when eating off turnips. If it rises 

 towards the wind the sheep will be sure to follow 

 the hurdles for shelter, and lie about one or two 

 abreast, as far as the hurdles will shelter them ; and 

 provided that part of the field has been fed off for 

 some time, and got consolidated from treading in 

 dry weather, the water will run off in wet weather, 

 and the ewes lie down comfortably for the night. 

 By this mode of management, the ewes, when feed- 

 ing off turnips, where they have plenty of room to 

 lie back on the dried part, will go on and do well, 

 and carry their lambs to their proper time in a wet 

 season. It is this plenty-of-room system that I wish 

 to call your particular attention to with regard to 

 forward ewes. Another person may have a lot of 



ewes in the next field fed on just the same kind oi 

 food — say turnips and hay, or any other kind,— but 

 the elevation is of a different aspect, and the laud 

 fresh fed off, so that the ewes stand in the bleak 

 side of the hurdles on their legs all night, in very 

 wet and rough weather, until they are almost shivered 

 to death, and the consequence is, they are chilled, 

 and will cast their lambs before their proper time. 

 Therefore, it is not the kind of food, but the weather, 

 and the aspect in which the ewes are placed in bad 

 nights, that often cause us snch great losses. I have 

 often heard a man say, " I have fed my ewes just the 

 same this year as I did the last, but now they are 

 slipping their lambs, and last year I had none." 

 But they never say anything about the weather, &c. 

 Let every well-thinking flockmaster, who has met 

 with the misfortune of losing many lambs by pre- 

 mature birth, ask himself a few questions on this 

 subject, and compare his notes with what I have here 

 stated, and I think eight out of ten will agree with 

 me on this poiut, for the same cause sometimes 

 comes out in a different shape, although I am aware 

 there is no rule without an exception. But before 

 I depart from this part of my subject, I will relate 

 to you how I know that the mischief is often caused 

 in a single wet night, particularly when closely con- 

 fined on the fresh fed turni]) land. Many years ago 

 I had between 600 and 700 ewes in a field eatmg off 

 turnips for wheat, about the end of November. I 

 ploughed up the land, which was eaten off close up 

 to the hurdles, as I wanted to sow the wheat, and 

 shut up the ewes rather close, on account of the wea- 

 ther appearing likely to be bad. I thought there 

 were too many sheep to be in one fold, if it should 

 be so, and as the turnips were nearly all fed off, I 

 ordered my shepherd to turn out half the ewes into 

 a grass field, which he did. The next night the 

 weather came on very cold and sleety, and, not hav- 

 ing much room, the next morning the ewes were in 

 a very dirty condition, although it was very dry and 

 light land on chalky subsoil, in rather a bleak situa- 

 tion. The result was that in a few days after, the 

 ewes which were left in the turnip field began to shp 

 their lambs. In a short time after, I removed them 

 from the turnip field; but still they continued to cast 

 their lambs, until about 100 had dead lambs, and 

 many ewes died also ; and to the best of my know- 

 ledge, scarcely a single ewe ever slipped her lamb which 

 was only parted the day before the sleety night, and 

 which was then on the grass laud ; and before that 

 time there was not the least difference in their keep- 

 ing. Therefore it convinced me the ewes were 

 chilled in that one night ; and never since that time 

 have I allowed my forward ewes to be penned up in 



