SHEKP MAyAOKMEN'T.] AND TlIEIli VAlilOUS BREEDS, [bukep management. 



the laotilerous stream. AVhca thia is tliecaso, 

 tho lambs are often depastured on over-eaten 

 seed ; and as their bowels are tender, and not 

 yet inured to such food, they becoino alll-cted 

 with purginj];, and hence the cause of unweaned 

 lambs being afllicted with the scour, wlien un- 

 availing recourse ^is bad to the shears and 

 medicine, to savo lives which too often pass 

 beyond the reach of skill. The discovery is tlien 

 made that the lambs have been so weaned, and 

 have bad improper pasture Ouce place 

 weaned lambs on over- eaten seeds, and the 

 whole flock takes the scour, followed by flies, 

 maggots, medicine, and death. To prevent 

 such a calamity, Mr. ^Milburu recommends 

 a bard old grass, or a second crop of mown 

 clover, which he considers perfectly safe. " It is 

 not the excellence of the pasture," he says, 

 " as regards its quantity, which is to bo feared, 

 but the quality ; for if the land be rich, 

 with grass and newly-grown seeds, the scour 

 is certain to follow. Some flock-masters, who 

 have not red clover, or poor grass laud, will 

 send their lambs to a poorer soil to graze, until 

 their bowels have become accustomed to purely 

 vegetable diet. Should scour take place, it is 

 often diflicult to stop it. Tho bowels must bo 

 relieved of the dry food, and the system 

 hardened by tonics. A dose of a quarter of 



an ounce of flower of sulphur, in old milk, will 

 generally succeed in stopping tho disease, if it 

 bo properly attacked in its early stages." 



" ]t is an excellent plan," tho same practical 

 gentleman further remarks, "to have a few 

 wetiiers, ur barren ewes, to put in the flcld 

 with tho lambs after weaning. They teach 

 them to select their food ; they draw out tho 

 instincts of the young lambs, and mati-ri.illv 

 assist in drawing and training. A pea should 

 be provided in tho corner of the field ; and to 

 dip as soon as possible after weaning is by no 

 means a bad practice. As soon as the ewes 

 are shorn, and before the weaning, it is very 

 desirable to have the l^mbs dipped. If deferred 

 till after weaning, there is often much fretting 

 excited in them, and they seem to sufier more 

 by far than when they are subjected to tho 

 process during the period when they arc re- 

 maining with their dams. It is often necessary 

 again to dress tho lambs in the autumn, and 

 so keep them from tho annoying and irritating 

 eflects of insects whicli seem to grow upon 

 them, despite every care, unless they are sub- 

 jected to frequent remedial applications. If 

 sale at one year old is intended, the lambs 

 should be kept on artificial food, Irom the veiy 

 season of weaning, in order that they may be 

 well brought up." 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE MANAGEMENT AND F.MTKNING OF SHEEP. 



Befoke directly considering the methods pur- 

 sued in the management and fattening of sheep, 

 the construction and power of the digestive 

 organs of the animal, upon wliieh experiments 

 are to be tried, should be well known. These 

 in the sheep, like those of almost all vegetable 

 feeding animals, are extremely complicated ; 

 and, in the exercise of their functions, accom- 

 plish a much more diflicult task than those 

 which are possessed by animals that princi- 

 pally feed upon flesh. The food of these, be- 

 fore it is eaten, is in a great measure ready 

 5 B 



prepared. The constituent parts of which it 

 is composed have a close resemblance to those 

 of tho blood itself, and necessarily bafve an exact 

 similarity to the very flesh it is intended to 

 nourish. This being the case, a much smaller 

 quantity is required to sustain the body, 

 as there is little of it given off" in the way of 

 waste, or ejected in the form of foeccs. This, 

 however, is very difllirent from what is neces- 

 sary to sustain the body of the herbivorous 

 quadruped. The food required for it has to be 

 sought in the wilds of nature, in the fields auc^ 



737 



