PUTTING TUPS TO EWES. 



1-29 



spring provender is expected to be early or la , plenti- 

 ful or scarce. When the sheep are spread over a wide 

 track, one ram is in general allotted to thirty ewes ; 

 but when the latter are on a limited range of pasture, 

 the proportion of one to fifty may be reckoned ample. 

 The rams ought not to be left with the ewes above 

 four or five weeks, as it does not do to have lambs 

 dropped after the middle of May ; indeed much trouble 

 will be saved to the shepherd if he can contrive to 

 have all the lambs yeaned about the same time, as the 

 flock will, from its numbers being of a similar standing, 

 be healthier, and every way easier to manage, than one 

 in which there is a great diversity of ages. Such ewes, 

 therefore, as have not evinced an inclination for the 

 male, ought, before the above period has elapsed, to be 

 driven into a barn or small inclosure, and made to run 

 about till they have become a little heated, after which, 

 when the ram is introduced, the desired eflfect will 

 doubtless follow. Delay will in many cases be un- 

 avoidable, owing to the ewes being in too high condi- 

 tion ; but this the shepherd should try to obviate, by 

 administering one or two doses of Epsom salts, which, 

 by reducing the plethora, will increase the activity of 

 the animal, and render it in many ways more prone to 

 pregnancy. 



As it is an object of some importance to retard the 

 yeaning of gimmer hogs till the spring be well advanced, 

 the rams are never sent to them till a fortnight after 

 they have been put to the older ewes. Much nicety 

 is always required in choosing the time at which rams 

 jhould be put to gimmers, as they are in general sorry 

 itirses, and sure, in bad seasons, to lose many lambs. 



