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useful. Merinos are excellent mothers, though at times a little 

 flighty over the first lamb. All the down breeds are good mothers 

 and the longvvools are also fairly good in this respect. At times a 

 ewe will hide her lamb, and in a bushy country they are sometimes 

 lost. A close supervision of the flock will prevent these losses 

 without knocking the sheep about by unnecessary interference. 



Where cross-breeding is practised on merinos, lambing ewes 

 sometimes have a difficulty in giving birth to the lamb ; a little 

 assistance at such a time will save the lives of both lamb and ewe. 

 The large heads of the crossbred lambs (particularly where Lincoln 

 rams of the old large-headed type are used) annually kill a consider- 

 able number of ewes from difficulties at lambing time. Even where 

 no cross-breeding is employed, the ewe occasionally finds a diffi- 

 culty in giving birth to the lamb, owing to the head and sometimes 

 the shoulders of the lamb being large. A little assistance given at 

 the right moment, with gentleness, will save many a ewe's life. 



In bringing the ewes and lambs up to the yards for lamb- 

 marking, a deal of trouble is often experienced if the work is not 

 gone about in the right way. The Hock should be gently brought 

 together and edged quietly towards the yard without using a dog. 

 Have a good wing of hurdles on one side. If there is any trouble 

 in getting the Hock to enter the yard, cut off a small lot and drive 

 into an inner yard. These will form a decoy to bring in the others. 

 Lambs that are excited by dogs and men shouting as they are 

 brought into the yard often become quite frantic, and will run till 

 they drop from exhaustion. A lamb will not recover from such 

 gallop for months. 



STAGS (OR RAM STAGS). 



Rams that are no longer wanted for use in the Hock, and f( 

 which a purchaser cannot be found, are a trouble if kept as rams, 

 and it seems a waste to destroy them. The usual plan is to castrate 

 them, and use them for food next season when in good condition, 

 or send them to market fat. The castration is performed in various 

 ways. Some sheep farmers merely use the knife, .and lose very 

 few. A rough edged table knife to rub the cord through by 

 scraping up and down is used to castrate horses, and should answer 

 well with rams. Some tie a string round the cord outside the 

 scrotum and above the testicles ; this is twitched very tight, and 

 kept in position by securely tying. By this means the testicles 

 gradually wither away. In other cases what is called blocking or 

 knocking is employed. The cord is placed between two blocks of 

 wood, and the to}-) one is struck heavily with a mallet. This destroys 

 the spermatic cord, and the testicles wither. Ham stags when 

 fattened make excellent mutton, though some people have a prejudice 

 against it. 



