196 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



mentary feeding before the lambs appear. A little 

 grain fed then will repay its cost several times, for 

 the well-nourished ewe goes easily through the 

 pains of lambing and loves well her offspring if she 

 has milk for it inside her udder. 



The shepherd who lambs on grass may have the 

 lamb crop all born within a very few days. They 

 will be anxious days while they last, but the agony 

 is soon over, seeing that this is the time Nature set 

 for this miracle to take place, and the ewes natu- 

 rally conceive readily to lamb then. Great watch- 

 fulness is necessary and there are certain helps that 

 may be mentioned. 



THE LAMBISTG TENT. 



Many western sheep owners use small shelter 

 tents about 42 inches square, supported by curved 

 iron rods, to shelter the ewe and her lamb from 

 storm. These tents are readily carried and set over 

 the ewe anywhere. They serve to keep her and her 

 offspring together while they are becoming ac- 

 quainted, and by turning the chilling rain save 

 many lambs that would otherwise be lost. As these 

 tents are inexpensive and can readily be made by 

 the shepherd himself some of them should be at 

 hand when an early lambing on grass is planned. 



It is desirable to scatter the flock as much as pos- 

 sible at this time, for then the ewes are the more 

 readily kept track of and their lambs are not so 

 often lost through mixing and straying from their 

 mothers. This latter is particularly dangerous in 



