188 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



little difficulty about this. If it is at first fed with warm sheep's or cow's 

 milk, by means of a spoon, until it is old enough to suck out of a suck- 

 ing-bottle, it will soon begin to bleat for its food, and greedily meet the 

 bottle the moment that it is presented to it, 



The cuckoo lambs will require the particular attention of the shep- 

 herd. They are those that are dropped later than the others, when the 

 cuckoo is just making his appearance, and after whom they are nained. 

 Thev are usually the progeny of very young or very old mothers, who 

 were not impregnated so soon as the others, and who generally are not 

 so strong and so hardy as the rest of the flock. Care must be taken 

 that they have suflicient, yet not too nutritive food ; and that the dis- 

 eases to which weakly lambs are subject are promptly attended to. 



Some ewes will permit other lambs beside their own to suck them, 

 and then there will possibly be one or more greedy lambs, who will 

 wander about from ewe to ewe, robbing the rightful owner of the greater 

 part of his share. He and his mother must be removed to another pas- 

 ture, where he will soon learn to satisfy his voracious appetite with the 

 grass. As the shepherd takes his round he should inspect every lamb. 

 If one does not appear to thrive, he should endeavor to ascertain the 

 cause. Has the mother any or suflicient milk ? Are the teats free from 

 disease? He should either supply the deficient nutriment, or provide a 

 foster-mother. Does the milk disagree with the lamb? Is there any 

 or considerable purging? The calves and sheep's cordial must be im- 

 mediately resorted to; and, if necessary, nursing, or separation from the 

 mother. ' In two or three weeks, and often considerably sooner, the 

 lambs will begin to nibble a little grass. Is it too luxuriant for them, or 

 has it been eaten down close by the ewes, and is tl^e owner thinking of 

 providing a fresh pasture ? Let him beware ! There is no situation in 

 which the old advice of not making "more haste and good speed" 

 should be more carefully heeded than in this. If one paramount cause 

 of disease, and fatal disease to lambs, were selected, it would be a sud- 

 den change from bare to luxuriant pasture. It often sets up a degree of 

 inflammatory fever, which no depletion will extinguish, or a diarrhoea 

 which no astringent can check. 



The technical term which the shepherd applies to the lamb diseased 

 from this cause is gall-lamb. The liver seems to be the principal seat of 

 inflammation, and a great quantity of bile ov gall is found in the duodenum 

 and small intestines; a portion of it has frequently regurgitated into the 

 abomasum or fourth stomach, and some has entered into the circulation, 

 and tinged the skin and flesh of a yellow color. It is a disease which 

 very speedily runs its course; occasionally carrying off" its victims in a 

 little more than twelve hours, and seldom lasting more than three days. 

 Immediate bleeding in the early stage, and afterward Epsom salts, with 

 a small portion of ginger, will aflford the only chance of a cure. The 

 poor animal is often condemned and slaughtered at once — that is bar- 

 barous work. 



Castration. — There is a great diff'ercnce of opinion as to the time when 

 the tup-lambs that are not intended to be kept for breeding should be 

 castrated. Some recommend the performance of this operation as early 

 as three days after the birth. Mr. Parkinson says that " he has several 



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