40 FEEDS FOR EWES AND IAMBS 



ewes about two weeks before lambing starts. Corn and some 

 protein feed usually make up the ration. Remove mothers from 

 the main flock. In case of Dorset or grade Dorset ewes with 

 only one lamb it will be necessary to watch the udders for the 

 first week and remove surplus milk. After that feed the ewes 

 to give all the milk possible. Lambs whose mothers do not give 

 sufficient milk will soon learn to utilize this excess if the ewe is 

 held for them. When the lambs are two weeks old we put cracked 

 corn and bran before them and their troughs are never empty 

 except for cleaning three times a day. Oats, barley, or gluten 

 is often added to give variety and stimulate the appetite, for we 

 want the lamb to eat as much as possible at this early age. Bright 

 clover, alfalfa, or soy bean hay is as necessary for the lambs 

 as for the ewes, but the lambs should have theirs changed several 

 times a day, as they will eat only the finer stems and leaves. 



Silage Good for Hothouse Lambs 



Clean water and salt must be accessible to the lambs as well as 

 to the ewes at all times. Corn silage has been the essential part 

 of the ewes' ration since we commenced raising hothouse lambs. 

 It is fed twice a day and supplemented with oats, cottonseed 

 meal, gluten, distiller's grains, or a mixed feed. A light feed 

 of hay is given along with each feed of silage. The lambs are 

 fed in a room shut off from the ewes by a creep, the slats of which 

 should be just eight inches apart. When the lambs pass through 

 this fence with difficulty they are big enough to butcher, the live 

 weight being 45 to 55 pounds. 



The uninformed person is often led to think from the term "hot- 

 house" that the lambs are raised in an artificially heated build- 

 ing, but this is not the case as the only protection needed is that 

 against cold, wind, rain and snow. On pleasant days the barn 

 should be opened as much as possible and the air should be kept 

 very pure at all times. Sunlight is especially desirable in the 

 "lamb parlor" as we call the creep. The barn is kept clean with 

 a light bedding of straw each day. Let nothing disturb the lambs 

 or their mothers. 



How to Dress Lambs for Market 



The method of dressing the carcass has always been similar to 

 hog dressing. At present only the stomach and attached organs 

 are removed, the liver, lungs, heart and kidneys remaining untouch- 

 ed in natural position. The head is not removed until late in the 



