on Heavy and Light Land. 253 



point is, that in drawing-, a considerable quantity of blood is often 

 lost which must weaken the lamb ; the lamb is stronger for 

 being cut late, and the purse more developed, shows better.* In 

 Wiltshire, Hants, and other places, it is a regular business, and 

 the operator aj)pears on the farm at a fixed date, taking you in 

 his rounds, and emasculates, not only lambs, but any animal on 

 the farm that may be condemned, with an amount of skill, and 

 an almost certainty of success, that few veterinary surgeons could 

 exceed, or even attain to. Weaning may be done in a variety of 

 ways. The Hampshire plan is the simplest. The lambs are 

 shut forward, a double row of hurdles being used for thi'ee or four 

 days, after which both ewe and lamb become reconciled to the 

 change. If the plan of complete separation is decided on, the 

 ewes should be removed rather than the lambs, as the latter are 

 accustomed to their food, and likely to do best if left undisturbed. 

 Now comes a question of great importance, especially as influ- 

 encing the number of sheep we can keep. I refer to oj)en feeding 

 or close folding. In many of the best sheep districts — Lincoln- 

 shire, Hants, Wilts, &c. — the latter practice is adopted, and can 

 be strongly recommended in all cases Avhere we keep sheep for 

 the butcher. But if we want to grow large animals — an object 

 with ram-breeders — we must stock light, give great range and 

 frequent change, bringing other stock to finish up the bulk of the 

 produce, and, I need hardly add that, with the best management, 

 much food is wasted. The ordinaiy stock-farmer cares not for 

 extraordinary size, indeed it is often a positive objection ; he 

 must keep as many as his land will rear, and must try to grow 

 them even, and this can best be done by a system of close folding. 

 The folding system has many advantages. The land gets evenly 

 manured, the food is made the most of, and in the case of mixed 

 crops — the artificial grasses, for example — the stock can be made 

 to eat everything. The animals get a regular supply daily, 

 Avhich can be increased or decreased according to the state of the 

 weather and the Avants of the flock. The lambs are not at one 

 time gorged with luxuriant feed, and at another pining in com- 

 parative scarcity. By keeping the lambs in hurdles the shepherd 

 has them much more under his control, and if he finds that they 

 are not doing as they ought, an alteration is easy. The crop, 



* A high authority on sheep-breeding -writes to me — "I am as much opposed 

 to this process as can be ; I believe the drawing process at two or three -weelis old 

 to be the safest and least painful to the lamb. We once tried the searing, and it 

 was done by a very skilful man, yet we lost a great number of lambs. We never 

 lost a lamb from drawing last year, nor have we this, although the season was so 

 unfavourable, and some of the lambs were five weeks old before they were cut." 



My own experience of drawing agrees with this statement. Easterly winds 

 must of course be avoided. I have, however, successfully seared " culls " from 

 the lot of ram lambs. — P. H. F. 



