DAILY MANAGEMENT OF LAMBS AND TEGS. 137 



free from lameness, therefore the feet should be kept sound and 

 in good shape. Too strong caustic frequently contorts the feet, 

 and renders the animal more likely to contract lameness at all times 

 through its life. The paring of the feet should be restricted to 

 keeping them in a natural shape, and as the hoof grows quickly, 

 unless the ground is dry there is great likelihood of its not being 

 worn down sufficiently fast to keep it in shape. If the lambs are 

 caught once a week, and any abnormal growths are cut back, 

 they will rarely suffer. However, in wet weather, especially if the 

 lambs are kept on the dung in the lambing-pen, there is likelihood 

 of the skin between the claws being abraded, and lameness, at first 

 from soreness, and subsequently from foot-rot, will develop. I 

 repeat, a mild caustic, such as the solution of sulphate of copper 

 and vinegar, mentioned previously, should be used. If this is 

 done at the first appearance of lameness, foot-rot will rarely 

 establish itself. 



On grass, lambs get little help in the shape of green food beyond 

 what they get from the pasture, and if the pasture is good they 

 have a good diet. It is, however, beneficial for them to have other 

 food, and if kale sprouts or finely-sliced mangels are brought 

 to them daily, they will profit thereby. Later, the autumn- 

 sown catch crops are available, and a short time each day spent 

 on these will be advantageous ; corn, of course, being given as 

 before mentioned. The early maturity of Hampshire lambs is in 

 no small way induced by the frequent changes of food supplied 

 to them during a day, and this is evidence that lambs require a 

 mixture to thrive to their utmost. Hampshire lambs change 

 their feeding ground as much as four or five times a day on those 

 farms where ram breeding is a feature, and growth and condition 

 are essential to the success of their sale. Folds are set on vetches, 

 cabbages, in the water meadows, on rape and temporary pasture, 

 in which the lambs get the first run over, spending a few hours 

 in each daily. This system is the most thorough practised, and, 

 of course, need not be followed in its entirety where the most 

 rapid feeding is not required. Under ordinary circumstances, 

 lambs at three months old do well on two changes a day, and they 

 do not then require to go to the lambing -fold for shelter. If 

 vetches, trifolium, or other catch crops are available, it is an 

 advantage for them to spend a few hours there, whether they 

 are on grass or on temporary pasture during the remainder of the 

 day, though, of course, many do well folded entirely on good 

 clover, to which a small quantity of other green food is taken. 

 But it is undoubtedly an advantage to have some change in diet. 

 As the ewes' milk falls short, it is important that the lambs be 

 supplied with water. If this is kept constantly by them they 

 never drink to excess, though when given occasionally there is 



