TREATMENT OF YOUNG SHEEP. 45 



munerative results than the mere money value of a prize. 

 Undoubtedly, many men have injured their reputation by ex- 

 hibiting animals not true to character, when perhaps their flock 

 in its entirety was a very good one. 



TREATMENT OF THE MAIN PORTION OF THE 

 YOUNG SHEEP. 



The young rams and ewes, not for exhibition, should be kept 

 on turnips, kale, &c., on the arable land, until it is wanted for 

 barley sowing (folded, or otherwise, according to the nature of 

 the farm,) and then on turf or seeds until about May, when it 

 is desirable to shear them. Should the weather be very cold it is 

 better to house them entirely for a few days, until they get less 

 liable to contract a chill. Mangolds are apt to cause mischief in 

 freshly shorn animals, unless the weather be warm ; so perhaps it 

 is safer to leave them out of the dietary for a short time. 



For the majority of the rams, it is better to allow them, say in 

 May and June, to spend the day time in the field, and afterwards 

 to remain out at night as well, housing in the day if the weather is 

 very hot. This treatment tends to growth and muscular strength 

 instead of fat, and rams brought up in this way usually prove 

 prolific sires. 



Some two months or so, (not longer) before the annual sale, the 

 outlying rams may be housed, but the wisest course is to house 

 the rams during the intense heat of the day ; supplementing their 

 food with cabbage, kale, and such other food as the farm affords, 

 and letting the rams run out at night. This system is more likely 

 to ensure strong vigorous animals than if the rams were housed 

 entirely and made unduly fat. 



The shearling ewes for sale should be placed on as good a 

 pasture as the farm affords ; and treated in such a manner as to 

 promote a swelling of the frame rather than a making of flesh. 

 For this purpose, green foods such as vetches, rape, cabbage, 

 with a small addition of corn, some six weeks before selling, are 

 the best. 



