70 SHEEP DISEASES. 



Turnips and cabbage make a good green food 

 ration, while mangels and sugar beets are not rec- 

 ommended before lambing. In parts of the west, 

 along the coast, where green food grows the year 

 around, these problems are solved by nature. Be- 

 fore lambing the food should be abundant and 

 laxative, a pound of equal parts of bran and oats 

 being a fine addition to the hay ration. 



When the weather is not too stormy or wet, the 

 animals should have plenty of exercise. This will 

 prevent many cases of difficult parturition. The 

 old English method of hauling a load of hay a 

 mile from the sheep corral, compelling the sheep 

 to follow it for their food, and then driving them 

 back in the evening, was an excellent one. 



In the early spring, after a hard snowy winter, 

 when the band is turned out to pick over the 

 rough parts of the ranch, many abortions and 

 deaths occur among the ewes from eating brush, 

 moss, or any green forage that may be full of tur- 

 pentine or other toxic ingredients. Frozen roots, 

 spoiled silage, mouldy^ hay, and an exclusive diet 

 of timothy have caused tile death of many a preg- 

 nant ewe. 



When the lambing season arrives, the busiest 

 time of the year on a sheep ranch is at hand. The 

 ewes expected to lamb early should be given a 

 roomy pen, dry, clean and quiet. As ewes seldom 

 lamb between midnight and early in the morning, 

 one should watch them at all hours, except this 

 time. 



When a lamb gets away from its mother and 

 she later refuses to claim it, they should be put 



