[66] 



PROFITS OF EARLY LAMBS. 



In close connection with stall feeding of sheep comes the 

 furnishing of early lambs of the best quality for the 

 butcher. It is one of the most interesting and profitable 

 branches of sheep husbandry in localities accessible to 

 market. When carried on as a special business the produc- 

 tion of butchers 7 lambs usually involves the annual selec- 

 tion of ewes for that purpose, which requires no little judg- 

 ment in securing good nurses, possessed of vigorous consti- 

 tutions, wide-hipped, broad, short- legged, early-maturing 

 animals, the best that can be culled from the common flocks 

 of the country. If the ram commences running with them 

 in September, they will begin to drop their lambs early in 

 February, and continue into March. They should have 

 good pasture. If short cropping attends the coming of 

 winter, the careful farmer will eke out the scanty herbage 

 with corn, oats, or their equivalent, that they may enter 

 upon dry feeding and the cold season in good condition. 

 Then they are fed with hay and a little grain or oats. The 

 winter feed, however, it is needless to add, can be varied 

 greatly, and a reasonable variety is found conducive to 

 health. As they approach the lambing season the heaviest 

 should be separated from the flock, and fed as before, being 

 careful to give some roots, but not so many as to increase 

 very much the secretion of milk. Breeding sheep should 

 not be too fat, they certainly should not be poor, but the 

 " golden mean " is much nearer the former than the latter 

 extreme. This may account for the different practice and 

 counsels of sheep breeders, some affirming that the ewes 

 should be kept on good hay till near the lambing time, and 

 then allowed more stimulating food; others preferring to 

 give hay, with a little grain, all the time, deprecating any 

 increase. Near a railroad is the best location for breeding 

 early lambs for market. Lambs cannot be driven, without 



