588 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



drink a good deal of water, and this also must be fresh and clean. 

 Bam lambs not intended for breeding should be castrated when 1 to 2 

 weeks old, and all lambs should be docked. Some advise docking the ewe 

 lambs when 8 to 14 days old and the rams 5 to 7 days after castration ; 

 others recommend docking at the same time the ram lambs are cas- 

 trated. 



895. Turning to pasture. With the beginning of the grazing season, 

 ewes and lambs should be turned to pasture for a short time during the 

 warm part of the day. It is best to accomplish the change gradually and 

 while the grass is short. After a few hours spent in the sunshine, nib- 

 bling at the grass, the ewes and lambs should be returned to shelter, 

 where a full feed awaits them. When the grass has become ample and 

 nutritious, stable feeding may be discontinued for ewes, or both ewes 

 and lambs, according to the plan followed. With good pasture, breed- 

 ing ewes need no grain. 



It is usually best to feed lambs concentrates before weaning in ad- 

 dition to the food they get from their dams and the pasture. To this 

 end, at some convenient point in the pasture let there be a ' ' lamb-creep, ' ' 

 and in a space accessible by way of the creep, a trough for feeding grain. 

 Whenever the lamb passes thru the creep it should find something in this 

 trough to tempt the appetite oats, bran, and corn meal forming the 

 chief feeds. A large proportion of corn may cause lambs to go off feed or 

 founder in hot weather. Shade should always be provided for sheep 

 and lambs on pasture. 



896. Weaning time and after weaning. Lambs of the mutton breeds, 

 more or less helpless at birth, are lusty at 4 months of age, and will be 

 found grazing regularly beside their dams in pasture when not at rest 

 or eating grain within the lamb-creep. At this time they should gen- 

 erally be weaned, for their own good as well as to allow their dams a 

 rest before another breeding season. If possible, advantage should be 

 taken of a cool spell in summer to wean the lambs, as they will then be 

 more comfortable during this trying period. The lambs should be so 

 far separated from their dams that neither can hear the bleating of the 

 other. For a few days the ewes should be held on short pasture or kept 

 on dry feed in the yard. The udders must be examined, and if neces- 

 sary, as is often the case with the best mothers, they should be drained 

 of milk a few times, lest inflammation arise. The lambs should be put on 

 some choice pasture which has been especially provided for this time 

 and be given a liberal supply of grain in addition. It is not necessary 

 to wean lambs of the mutton breeds before they go to market if they 

 have been well fed, for they will reach the desired finish and a weight of 

 65 to 80 Ibs. while suckling. 



It is especially important to provide fresh pasture, free from para- 

 sites, for the lambs after weaning. If the lambs are taken from their 

 mothers and left on a bluegrass pasture which is infested with parasites 

 dropped by the older sheep and where the feed is scant due to heat 



