494 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



patch of green rye for the ewes and lambs is valuable In addition to 

 the dry feed. That food combination could hardly be improved upon. 

 The "youngsters" like a bite of green stuff and soon will be eating quite 

 a little. If there is no rye it is well to have a fresh pasture that comes 

 up quickly in the spring. This green food assists "both ewes and lambs 

 in thriving better than if they were confined to even the very best of 

 dry feed, so it is good policy to get them all outside as soon as they are 

 strong enough and the weather will permit. The lambs can also be 

 pushed on by giving them a small amount of grain by themselves each 

 morning and evening. For this, a "creep" can be made easily and cheap. 

 If the flock is being shedded each night a corner of the shed can be 

 used for it. A simple creep is made by taking two 1x6 inch boards and 

 placing them far enough apart to make a partition which ewes will not 

 jump over, then nail slats on far enough apart so the lambs can go 

 through, but the ewes cannot. If the flock is placed only in a pen at 

 night a corner of the lot could be taken the same as in the shed. Put a 

 little trough in there and the lambs soon know what it is meant for. 

 Feed to make them grow, not fatten, and when the lambs are yet real 

 young it is well if the oats in the ration are crushed. If lambs get this 

 grain, a liberal amount of milk from their dams and some grass or rye, 

 you may rest assured that you will get the most from your flock. Lambs 

 which have been well fed in every way always mature to loe much larger, 

 stronger, and with heavier fleeces than the others. 



! EAR-MARKING THE YOUNG LAMBS. 



Some pure-bred flockmasters experience difficulty in keeping the 

 young lambs properly marked so it can be readily told which dams they 

 belong to. Of course, some people can tell just which lambs helong to 

 different ewes, but to depend upon that very long after the lambs are 

 born is very uncertain. However, the cartilage of a lamb's ear until it 

 is quite well grown is not very strong, and tags should not be put in 

 the ears, because sore or improperly formed ears might be the result. 

 Therefore, the use of tags for real young lambs is not to be recommended, 

 nor should anyone depend upon remembering where every lamb belongs, 

 but the safe and sure method is to punch small notches in the youngster's 

 ears and then the tags can be correctly inserted whenever you are ready. 

 The ordinary ear punch is used for this purpose, and we herewith give 

 an illustration of one system of marks and their meaning. If the 

 numbers on your ear tags do not run up very high, the same number 

 could "be notched in the «ar as the tag you wished to later insert. If 

 the flock is a large one, a note will have to be kept of numbers in order 

 that no mistake will be made. For instance: Suppose this year's lambs 

 would be tagged from tag 500. Then the lamb notched 1 would require 

 tag 500, 2 would require 501, etc. There would be no conflict in starting 

 each year's lamb crop with notch 1, because in the autumn they would be 

 ear-tagged and there would not be anything but lambs without tags. 

 This system of notching is also very beneficial when older sheep lose 

 their ear tags, because these notches will identify them. Suppose a three- 

 year-old ewe lost her ear tag; you could get her notch number and age 



