SHEEP 349 



the shed and not on pasture, good practice in feeding has been about 

 as follows: In the morning about 6 o'clock they are fed a small 

 quantity of grain, in the trough. After the other sheep are fed, if 

 the lambs have eaten their grain more is put in the trough. At 

 noon they receive another allowance. In the evening they are fed 

 twice in the same manner as in the morning, and they are left at 

 night with some grain in their troughs. 



Hand-feeding Lambs. In rearing lambs that have lost their 

 mothers, or when the latter do not give enough milk to nourish the 

 lambs properly, it is best to feed cow's milk from a bottle that has a 

 small rubber nipple attached to it. A newly dropped lamb only re- 

 quires 2 teaspoonfuls at a time, given every hour. It has not been 

 found necessary to sweeten the milk with sugar or dilute it with 

 water, but it is strongly recommended to heat the milk and feed it at 

 a temperature of 100 F. The lambs seem to like it hot, and they 

 certainly thrive better upon it. It is necessary to keep the nipple, 

 the bottle, and the vessel in which the milk is heated thoroughly free 

 from any disagreeable taste or odor, such as that of sour milk, else 

 the lambs will refuse the milk. When the lambs are about 2 months 

 old they are able to take in two feeds 2 pints per head daily, in addi- 

 tion to such grain and grass as they may eat. 



Feeding After Weaning. The time for weaning the lambs de- 

 pends greatly upon the extent to which the lambs are obtaining milk 

 from the ewes. When they are four months old they may usually 

 be w r eaned with advantage. If they have been fed grain previous to 

 weaning they will not be checked in their growth by it and they will 

 be almost unconscious of the weaning, but if they have not received 

 grain they will lose in weight and be checked in their growth. 



It will be advisable to separate the ewe lambs from the ram and 

 wether lambs. If allowed to run together the ram lambs will annoy 

 the others and the gains will not be satisfactory. The wether and 

 the ewe lambs may be kept together. 



After weaning, the lambs should be gradually made to rely on 

 oats as their grain ration. If on pasture of only ordinary quality, 

 0.5 pound of oats daily may be fed if needed, but if on good after- 

 math clover or blue-grass pasture less will be required. 



When the lambs have just been weaned they should get the best 

 pasture obtainable, and if possible the field should be some distance 

 from the ewes. There is nothing better for lambs just weaned than 

 second-growth clover that has grown up a few inches and has lost 

 some of the freshness characteristic of new growth. There is not 

 much danger of lambs of this age bloating on such food. Rape is an 

 excellent food for the ram lambs, and if managed with judgment 

 there is no danger in giving them free range. If neither of these 

 can be secured for the lambs, they should at least have a clean piece 

 of blue-grass pasture that has not been eaten down by other stock. 



The best practice among shepherds giving close attention to the 

 growth of their lambs is to sow rye in the fall for early food in the 

 spring for the ewes and lambs, followed by vetch and oats and by 



