22 MANAGEMENT OF FLOCK. 



is desirable to have the lambs as early in the year as possible ; 

 because, for showing purposes, an early-dropped lamb has a 

 considerable advantage over a March or April lamb. The com- 

 petition now-a-days is so keen that the breeder who shows lambs, 

 to be successful, must have them dropped early, and then he 

 must leave no stone unturned to fully develop them. At the 

 same time it is of equal importance that lambs should suffer no 

 check, but continue to thrive during their whole career, if suc- 

 cessful results are to be obtained. If the Spring keep is likely 

 to be short, and the farm rather cold and exposed, it might be 

 advisable to put a limited number of the ewes to the ram early, 

 so that lambs for showing purposes may be secured, and to put 

 the bulk of the ewes to the ram at a somewhat later date. If 

 this course be adopted the ewes most likely to breed well should 

 be selected for the purpose. 



MATING. 



All the rams, for service should be branded in pitch with a 

 distinctive number say I to 100, or any smaller or greater num- 

 ber according to the rams in service and their breeding, &c., 

 entered against that number. The ear-markings (tattoo, nip, or 

 ear-tag) of each ewe drawn to No. i ram should be entered in 

 a small memo, book ; and so on until the respective numbers of 

 each ewe are taken, with the number of the ram each is served 

 by. 



If any changes are subsequently made, a note must be taken of 

 the same, and at the end of the season when the ewes are all 

 served, the mating can be entered up in the private flock book. 



The utmost care should be given to mating, because it is rarely, 

 if ever, that we get perfection in any one animal, and it is only 

 by judiciously mating a ewe which is deficient in some points, 

 with a sire strongly developed in those particular points, that we 

 can hope to arrive at approximate perfection ; if both sire and 

 dam are deficient in the same points, they will only be 

 accentuated in the offspring 1 . 



