SHEEP. 1017 



shearing-time the space clipped in tagging should not be gone 

 over a second time ; it is only a waste. 



Lambing. It is in his preparations /or lambing that the 

 consummate art of the shepherd is shown; this is the touch- 

 stone of his success. If lambing is not done well no after-spurt 

 of exertion will atone for it, and the profits of the flock will be 

 seriously cut into, if not quite destroyed. The shepherd's motto 

 should be : Eternal vigilance is the price of lambs. Some flock- 

 masters make it a point to visit the sheep-house during the night. 

 Unless the weather is phenomenally severe, or the previous man- 

 agement of the ewes has been unpardonably bad, this is not nec- 

 essary, even with the comparatively poor nurses, the Merinos, 

 and still less with the English breeds. I take it for granted 

 lambing will be carried on under cover, except during warm, 

 sunny days and balmy nights, when the weather has become set- 

 tled. The sheep-house used for this purpose should be wholly 

 above ground, thoroughly tight and dry, but furnished with 

 plenty of glass windows, so that it can be ventilated in warm 

 nights or on rainy, muggy days. Newly dropped lambs are 

 prone to crawl into crevices, especially if neglected by the ewes, 

 and get fastened and chilled ; hence all these ought to be stopped. 

 There ought to be no stone foundations, or these should be cov- 

 ered with litter, as the lamb is likely to lie on them and get chilled. 



At night when the flock is shut in the ewes and lambs al- 

 ready dropped should be removed to a separate inclosure ; this 

 prevents a great deal of confusion and trouble. Then at bed- 

 time let the flock-master go carefully through the flock with a 

 lantern, and make matters secure. If the ewes were fed and ex- 

 ercised as they ought to have been during the winter, a lamb 

 yeaned after nine o'clock will get up and do well enough until 

 six next morning without milk. The thermometer may mark 

 ten degrees, and its feet may even be frost-bitten, yet if its 

 mother is healthy and hardy from exercise it will be on its feet 

 and dry in the morning. If it succumbs under this temperature 

 or a higher one, it is a clear case of bad management through 

 the winter, or else it is a lamb of so poor a constitution that it 

 is not worth any thing. 



