120 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



farmer would call "fat," but not according to the 

 butcher's standard. They must have abundant op- 

 portunity to exercise and to get fresh air. Thus 

 treated their lambs should come as strong as wild 

 things and give little trouble. It is the natural 

 thing for a lamb to be born strong, to live at birth, 

 since all its ancestors have done the like since lambs 

 were born into the world. 



There is danger in well-bred ewes highly fed upon 

 such foods as wheat bran and clover or alfalfa hay 

 that the lambs may have excessive bony develop- 

 ment, and it is not now the practice of the writer to 

 feed much bran before weaning, but to give instead 

 bright, sweet corn stover and alfalfa hay. Too 

 much alfalfa hay alone will sometimes make the 

 lambs rather large at birth. If the coarse forage is 

 not abundant and of excellent quality, the shepherd 

 should feed a small daily allowance of grain. A 

 mixture of corn and oats may be used, which should 

 be fed in wide flat-bottomed troughs, so that the 

 ewes cannot rapidly swallow it as they will when 

 fed in V-shaped troughs. 



A run to a blue-grass pasture is an excellent 

 thing, and if the grass is permitted to grow up in 

 the fall and lie uneaten, no small part of the suste- 

 nance of the flock will come from that. A shelter- 

 ing bit of woodland, in which they may wander, 

 affords shelter and amusement, and well repays the 

 ground on which it stands. 



While the flock should be out of doors every fine 

 winter's day, yet the shepherd should have his 



