SHEEP-EEABTNG.] 



SHEEP, 



[snEEP-EEA'RIN'G. 



commencement of the rutting season ; thus a 

 full crop of lambs may be secured. A proper 

 proportion of tups should be employed — say, 

 three to one hundred ewes, if they are much 

 scattered ; but, if they are kept in enclosures, 

 two will be sufficient for a hundred. " A ram, 

 when shearling, or two shear," Mr. Milburn 

 says, " will serve sixty ewes, or even eighty, if 

 proper care be taken. The too common mode 

 is to allow him to run with the ewes at large. 

 There is a great waste of the animal's virile 

 powers ; and when as many as the last-named 

 number of ewes are given him, another course 

 should be adopted. A shepherd should be left 

 in entire charge ; a pen or pair of stocks, as it 

 is indifferently called, provided, and the ram 

 kept confined in the house, or in a very small 

 croffc. An active lively ram should be sent 

 with the ewes, and should have an apron tied 

 about the crop, so as entirely to cover the ge- 

 nitals. If his breast is smeared with red it is 

 no disadvantage, as it more distinctly marks 

 the ewes. AVhen a ewe is observed in full 

 season, she should be brought to the stocks, 

 and served by the ram with whom she is in- 

 tended to produce, and immediately carried 

 away ; but, when eighty ewes are provided, it 

 is indispensable ; and when twenty to thirty 

 guineas are given for the loan of a ram for one 

 season, it is not unreasonable to expect him to 

 discharge more duties to the flock than is pos- 

 sible by running at large. When the flock 

 comes in season very rapidly, the ram serves 

 them only once ; if not, they are served twice, 

 and then turned away for a fortnight, when 

 they are brought back to the teaser ; and he is 

 then smeared with a blue or black colour, to 

 distinguish those who come once. When the 

 ewes are not named, they should all be num- 

 bered, and a register kept of the ram and his 

 breeding, and the date of each ewe being served. 

 This is not only an invaluable record in the case 

 of pedigrees, but it is still more useful as being 

 a guide to housing, when near the period of 

 lambing; and, though the doggrel distich is 

 true, tliat — 



" ' There was never a shepherd, that ever begun, 



Can tell wliether they go nineteen, twenty, or twenty- 

 one ;" 

 still, a very important classification is secured 

 by those who have their register, who cannot 

 house the whole flock, especially in a time of 

 734 



severity and difficulty. When the active pro- 

 cess of gestation has commenced, care should 

 be taken to prevent the ewes getting too fat. 

 If they do, inflammatory disease, absence of 

 milk, and general risk, are sure to be the eon- 

 sequences." The apron alluded to in this pas- 

 sage, is believed by Dr. Parry to have been an 

 invention of the celebrated Bakewell. The 

 sexual appetite of the ewes being provoked, 

 and their condition being discovered, by it, 

 they are taken in succession to the proper 

 ram, which is kept in a yard or small enclosure, 

 and permitted to serve each only once. The 

 common practice, on high farms at this season, 

 is to collect the ewes, and drive them to the 

 low ground ; but this has frequently the efl'ect 

 of harassing the animals, and spoiling the 

 winter pasture. If they be altogether left at 

 liberty, however, an inconvenient number of 

 rams is requisite. The duties of the shepherd 

 at this season are extremely onerous, as he 

 must be constant in his attendance. If the 

 weather permit, the ewes must rather be kept 

 on the high ground, in separate bodies, scat- 

 tered here and there, in accordance with the 

 nature of the pasture, and the condition of the 

 ground. Each of these detachments sliould 

 have a proportion of rams allotted to it ; and 

 the shepherd cannot be too careful in not 

 allowing the lambs to quit the ewes to which 

 they have been appropriated. If this be done 

 properly, fewer rams will be required on the 

 ground. When the ewes have become large, 

 they should be run about as little as possible. 

 Nor should they in any way be disturbed, but 

 carefully watched over, and kept away from 

 wet ground, and everything that may be sup- 

 posed to have an injurious effect upon their 

 health. When very heavy, they are apt to get 

 cast, and unable to rise ; and when this is the 

 case, the shepherd should approach them with 

 gentleness, and help to raise them with as 

 much tenderness as he can use. Should a«e.we 

 miscarry in very cold or severe weather, she 

 should be brought to her cot, and kept there 

 until she has recovered. In mild weather, 

 however, she will be equally safe in the open 

 air. When the yearning time arrives, the 

 ewes should be placed on the most level and 

 driest ground, not only for their own accom- 

 modation, but for that of the lambs when 

 dropped. 



