CHAPTER XXXIV 

 SUMMER MANAGEMENT 



Weaning the Lambs. Proper Age for Weaning. When the 

 lambs are not taken from the ewes and sent to market, provision 

 must be made for weaning them. They should not be weaned before 

 they are three and one-half months old, and if they are doing well 

 and the ewes are still furnishing them with a good quantity of milk, 

 it may be best not to wean them until they are four or five months old. 



Oftentimes the lambs are not separated from their mothers 

 early enough. The ewes reach the point where they no longer give 

 much milk, and the lambs, depending more than they should upon 

 what little they can get, annoy them by persistently wanting to 

 nurse. When a ewe without much milk nurses a pair of robust 

 lambs weighing sixty-five pounds or more, she goes through a 

 pretty rough experience that is none too good for her udder, because 

 the lambs in suckling hunch at the udder so hard that the rear 

 parts of the ewe are almost lifted from the ground. In hot weather, 

 if only a little milk is to be had, it does a big lamb, old enough 

 to wean, little good to keep thrusting its nose after the teat under 

 the hot flanks of the ewe. Both mother and lamb are better off 

 if separated. There is a natural weaning period, that is, there 

 comes a time when the ewes will wean the lambs, but they ought 

 to be weaned before this time comes. 



If the lambs are weaned fairly early and placed on pasture or 

 forage that has not been grazed by the sheep, they are less likely to 

 become badly infested with parasites. This is an important con- 

 sideration in places where parasitic troubles must be kept constantly 

 in mind. If the weaning is not delayed beyond the proper time, the 

 ewes will have time to recuperate and get in proper condition for 

 the breeding season. 



If possible, all of the lambs should be weaned at the same time, 

 but in case there are some very late ones, they should be allowed to 

 stay with their mothers until they are of sufficient age not to be 

 checked in growth or stunted by being deprived of milk. 



Procedure in Weaning. In flocks kept primarily for produc- 



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