CARE OF THE EWE AND YOUNG LAMB 139 



effectual destroyers of germ life, and when used 

 with discretion are among the best friends of the 

 shepherd. 



FEEDING THE LAMBS. 



Lambs early develop a hunger for solid food and 

 begin nibbling at hay and sampling ground feed or 

 whatever is at hand. At the age of ten days they 

 will begin seriously to eat ground feed. Advantage 

 of this should be taken and the lamb encouraged to 

 eat as early and as much as possible. During the 

 early life of an animal nutrition is more perfect than 

 later and the cost of producing growth is much less. 

 Digestion is more perfect, the young animal can 

 consume more in proportion to its weight and it is 

 more perfectly assimilated. A pound of flesh on 

 the baby lamb can therefore be made at a much less 

 cost than after he is older. Seeing that the young 

 mutton commands by far the higher price it is plain 

 that the earlier weight is put on the better so far 

 as profit is concerned 



The practice in England is to have in the hurdles 

 in which the flock is usually confined, "creeps" or 

 openings wide enough to let the lambs slip through 

 while restraining the ewes. These creeps usually 

 have small rollers at the sides so that the lambs as 

 they grow and nearly fill the opening may squeeze 

 through without injury to themselves or loosening 

 of their wool. Thus the lambs "run forward" to 

 an enclosure of their own where they find fresK 

 grazing of turnips or vetch or clover or grass, ac- 



