40 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



it a short distance to prevent the edges from healing until the in- 

 flammation has subsided. This method of operation is a safe one, 

 and if it is neatly done, the losses need not be one per cent, while 

 frequently three lambs out of five may be lost by any other 

 method. 



While the lambs are still with the ewes, and although the ewes 

 may be well fed with a special view to the thrif tiness of the lambs, 

 yet a supply of additional food for the latter will be of great ad- 

 vantage to them. To furnish a young animal with all the food 

 that it can digest, and that of the choicest character, is to create a 

 sturdy, thrifty, strong constitutioned animal that will be prolific 

 in reproduction and long lived. To advance the maturity of 

 an animal is also to lengthen its life, for it matters not at which 

 part of its productive career we add a year, it certainly, so far as 

 profit is concerned, lives a year longer for us. If a yearling ewe 

 can be made to produce a healthful, strong lamb, or a lamb can be 

 brought by care to maturity for the market at eighteen months in- 

 stead of thirty months, this result is simply equal to a profit of 40 

 per cent. And feed is the agent by which this profit is secured, of 

 course made available by proper care in selecting the breeding 

 stock. To provide the means whereby the lambs may procure the 

 extra feed needed for their rapid development, many contrivances 

 have been brought into use. Generally these are modifications of 

 the plan of providing a pen or yard adjoining that in which the 

 ewes are kept, with " creep holes " in the fence through which the 

 lambs can gain access to it. In this yard some feed, consisting of 

 oats, rye, and wheat bran ground together very finely, is placed in 

 troughs or boxes, and lightly salted. They will soon find this, and 

 will resort to it several times a day. A very simple and conve- 

 nient " lamb creep " is figured at fig. 15, and has been illustrated 

 and described in an English journal, the Agricultural Gazette. It 

 is very frequently used by English farmers, and is worthy of being 

 adopted by us. It consists of a small double gate or two half gates 

 set at such a distance apart that the lamb can easily force itself 

 through between them. An upright roller on each side of the 

 opening assists the lamb hi getting through the space, and prevents 

 it from rubbing or tearing its wool. The gates are pivoted at top 

 and bottom, so that they will open a little either way ; a wooden 

 spring being fixed so as to keep them closed after the lamb has 

 passed in or out. The lambs pass in or out at will. Creeps of 

 this kind can be made so as to occupy a panel of fence or a gate- 

 way, and of a portable character, so that they can be easily fixed 

 to the fence-post on each side by a wire or withe, and removed 



