134 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



by patience and by exerting a good deal of strength the lamb 

 is safely born. 



Eighth. Monstrosities are not uncommon, most seasons 

 providing examples of lambs with five legs, headless lambs, 

 fusion of two lambs into one, &c. These cases are puzzling, 

 and require special treatment, and when such malformations 

 are presented there need be no hesitation in employing the 

 knife for their removal. 



Having given all the possible unnatural presentations likely 

 to be met with, I shall next explain how assistance ought to 

 be rendered to a ewe in distress. In all cases great care and 

 gentleness are requisite, and all roughness or hurry should be 

 avoided. The hand should be anointed with fresh lard or oil, 

 and the finger nails must be short. The hand must be com- 

 pressed into as narrow a space as possible and gently intro- 

 duced. In giving assistance the operator should draw the 

 lamb in accordance with the natural pains of the ewe, and 

 wait for her to pain. Assistance given at that moment is 

 useful ; but if force is used during the intervals between the 

 labour pains, the muscles of the uterus are excited, and the 

 result is the early exhaustion of the mother. Again, in using 

 force the foetus should be drawn downwards towards the hocks 

 of the ewe, and the operator need not be afraid of using his 

 strength when the foetus is once brought into a proper position. 



Casualties may always be expected in a large flock, but it is 

 only reasonable to expect that a shepherd understands his 

 business, and that he will be able to cope with the various 

 cases above cited. 



After hard labour the parts should be soothed by suitable 

 applications. Decoction of poppy heads, turpentine, weak 

 solution of carbolic acid, and oils have all been used, no doubt 

 with good effect, as a means of preventing inflammation. 



Too often, after ewes have had a severe time, and much 

 manual assistance has been necessary, " heaving," or after- 

 pains, accompanied with inflammation of the uterus, set in on 

 the second or third day and end in a painful death. When a 



