CARE OF THE EWE AND YOUNG LAMB 159 



the lambs over till fall or perhaps to feed them again 

 the following winter. , This seldom pays so well as to 

 have them fat early and get rid of them at a good 

 price. When they come to market as late as Au- 

 gust and from then to Christmas they must compete 

 with lambs grown on the ranges under much more 

 favorable conditions for cheap production. More- 

 over, the lambs during the hot summers of the corn- 

 belt do not gain much fat ; if in fact they hold what 

 they made in May and June they do well and there 

 is besides that terrible danger the parasite. 



DOCKIXG. 



Unless one is certain that his lambs will go early 

 to market, say at an age not exceeding three months, 

 he had better dock and castrate them. Tails are un- 

 necessary appendages to a modern sheep and are apt 

 to become fouled. A docked lamb has a squarer 

 look and seems fatter than one with a tail. What 

 blood goes to nourish the useless tail would add to 

 the growth of the rest of the body no doubt. Dock- 

 ing may be done at a very early age, within ten days 

 after birth if the lamb is strong, and .there is then 

 slight shock. Tails may be severed with one stroke 

 of a sharp knife (cutting from the under side), or 

 by use of a. mallet and chisel, but a better and safer 

 way when pure-bred and well-fed lambs are docked 

 is by use of hot docking pinchers. These are readily 

 made by the country blacksmith. They are shaped 

 like large shoeing pinchers, only much heavier and 

 with a wider opening to admit any tail, for some- 



