146 MANAGEMENT OF NEW-BORN LAMBS. 



by means of a curved needle, and tying those lips loosely 

 enough together to permit the passage of the urine. The 

 parts should be washed frequently with alum-water or decoction 

 of oak bark, and some of the fluid be often injected with 

 moderate force into the vagina. If this fails to effect a cure 

 and the protrusion of the- womb becomes habitual, it should 

 be strongly corded close to the vagina (or the back of the 

 sheep) and allowed to slough off. The ewe will not, of 

 course, breed after this operation, but she will fatten for the 

 butcher. 



MANAGEMENT or NEW-BORN LAMBS. If a lamb can 

 help itself from the outset, it is better not to interfere in any 

 way to assist it. If the weather is mild, if the ewe apparently 

 has abundance of milk, and stands kindly for her lamb, and if 

 the latter is strong and disposed to help itself, there is usually 

 little danger. But if the lamb is weak and makes no 

 successful efforts to suck, and particulai'ly when this occurs in 

 cold or raw weather, the attendant the " lamber," as he is 

 called in England should at once render his aid. The ewe 

 should not be thrown down, if it can be avoided, but the 

 lamb assisted, if necessary, to stand in the natural posture of 

 sucking, a teat placed in its mouth, and its back and 

 particularly the rump about the roots of its tail lightly and 

 rapidly rubbed with a finger, which it mistakes for the licking 

 of its dam. This last generally produces an immediate effort 

 to suck. If it does not, a little milk should be milked from 

 the teat into its mouth, and the licking motion of the finger 

 continued. These efforts will generally succeed speedily 

 but occasionally a lamb is very stupid or very obstinate. In 

 that case, gentleness and perseverance are the only remedies, 

 and they will always in the end triumph. Too speedy resort 

 to the spoon or sucking-bottle frequently causes a lamb to 

 rely on this kind of aid, and a number of days may pass by 

 before it can be taught to help itself properly, even from a full 

 udder of milk. 



ARTIFICIAL FEEDING. If the dam of a new-born lamb has 

 not good milk ready for it, it is better to allow it to fill itself 

 the first time from another ewe, or from a couple of ewes, 

 which can spare the milk from their own lambs. And it is 

 well to continue the same supply two or three days, if 

 there is a prospect that the dam will in that time have milk 

 for ewes' milk is better for young lambs than cows' milk. If 



