130 



MANAGEMENT OF 8HEEP. 



When a farm is provided with suitable enclosures, 

 careful selection of both ewes and rams should always 

 be attended to, taking- care to make the good points of 

 the one remedy the defects of the other ; but where a 

 farm is destitute of such accommodation, the next best 

 plan is to send the finest rams to the ewes for a few 

 days before the rest of the males are admitted. 



Great ewes oug^ht always to be well looked after. 

 The driest and best sheltered fields should be set apart 

 for them, and turnips, when forming part of their food, 

 should, when they are about to yean, always be carted 

 to their pasture. When they roll awald, and cannot 

 regain their feet, prompt assistance should be afforded 

 them, else they will soon die. Death in this case occurs 

 from suifocation, though the morbid appearances ex- 

 hibited by the carcass are frequently mistaken for those 

 of braxy. Udder locking ought never to be attempted, 

 as it often leads to abortion, and is, besides, not of the 

 slightest utility. 



(97.) Early Lambs. Though in the greater num- 

 ber of our breeds the arrival of the rutting season is 

 fixed and regular, yet there are several in which preg- 

 nancy may, by proper management, be induced at any 

 period. Of these the Dorsetshire and Wicklow varieties 

 are the most noted, and are on this account selected 

 for the rearing of house-lambs in the vicinity of towns, 

 the inhabitants of which are opulent enough to create 

 a demand for so expensive an article. 



The beginning of June is the time chosen for the 

 admission of the rams, so that by the month of Janu- 

 ary the greater proportion of the ewes have yeaned. 

 According to the plan pursued in Middlesex, *' The 



