114 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



it is wiser not to do this, as it leads to the steady 

 decrease in size of your sheep, and by weakening 

 the ewe's constitution because of the heavy drain 

 upon her, you make her the more liable to attacks 

 of parasites, those foes of the sheep and shepherd 

 that never can be forgotten with safety. 



PUTTING I>T THE KAM. 



The ewe carries her lamb from 142 to 150 days, 

 or, roughly, five months. It is well to so time the 

 putting in of the ram as to bring the lambs at the 

 season when they will best fit in with your scheme 

 of management. Much depends here upon the breed 

 under consideration, for it is natural for the Dorset 

 and the Merino to drop their lambs very early, so 

 that they may be mated with the ram in September, 

 when the lambs will come early in February; or if 

 bred in August they will come in January; or in 

 July to have them in December. With Shropshires 

 it is unusual for lambs to appear so early as De- 

 cember or January, though the middle of Septem- 

 ber is an excellent time to mate them; with South- 

 downs the same time will serve, though they natu- 

 rally lamb later, and with Cotswolds and Lincolns 

 it is unusual for lambs to be born before March or 

 April. If the shepherd has good quarters for his 

 flock he may as well try for some early lambs ; they 

 will serve to occupy his time in winter, and coming 

 then when he has leisure, he will lose but a small 

 proportion of them. Winter lambs well nourished 

 in infancy make much stronger and better sheep 



