214 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING 



After the lambs are yeaned about the first of 

 March the ewes should receive a liberal ration of 

 grain and roots, to promote the secretion of milk, and, 

 at the same time, improve their condition in flesh. 

 At the age of two or three weeks the lambs will learn 

 to eat meal and turnips, which should be placed in 

 boxes to which they have ready access, in pens that 

 their dams cannot enter. 



With good shelter, which must of course be pro- 

 vided, and a system of high feeding, the lambs are 

 ready for the market when from seven to ten weeks 

 old, the highest prices being paid for the earliest lots. 



If not too late in the season, from four to five dol- 

 lars per head can be obtained for good ones, while in- 

 ferior or late lots are sold at much lower prices. 



After the lambs are sold, the ewes are fattened 

 and sold for mutton, soon after shearing. 



With the exception of the pure-bred ram, the en- 

 tire flock is thus disposed of before the close of the 

 year, the ewes frequently bringing one dollar per head 

 more than their original cost. 1 



A new flock of ewes may then be procured, and 

 the same method repeated. 



The essentials of success in this method of man- 

 agement are, a high-bred ram that can impress upon 

 his offspring the ability to mature early, high feeding 

 to secure the greatest possible activity of this inherited 

 tendency, and good shelter. 



1 For details of Mr. Taylor's system of management, see The Culti- 

 vator, 1862, pp. 77, 160, 174. 





