324 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the lamb attains much size. If penned with the dams when a month or 

 two old, hours will sometimes elapse before each lamb will suck — the only 

 certain indication to which ewe it belongs. It being perfectly safe to per- 

 form this process when the lamb is only about a day old (or as soon as the 

 lamb can walk, if it is a strong one), the shepherd can-ies the notclier in 

 his pocket, and a little book, each page being ruled into six columns, and 

 headed as in the register presently given. This constitutes the day-hook, 

 which is subsequently drawn off on the Register, 



The notcher Avhich I use is of my own invention, and I have found it far 

 preferable to any I have seen elsewhere. It consists of a saddler's spring- 

 punch — the cutting cylinder being taken out, and a little sharp chisel of 

 the same length being screwed in its place. The edge of the chisel de- 

 scribes a semi-ellipsis, cutting a notch out of the ear \ of an. inch deep, and 

 a little over j^g wide at the base. A triangular cut in the ear, with so nar- 

 row a base, will grow together for some distance from the apex. This 

 instrument is far more convenient than a chisel and block. 



The shepherd, on finding a lamb of the right age to mark, goes quietly 

 up to it, stopping it by the nech with his crook if it attempts to run away. 

 The ewe will come near enough, in a moment or two, to be secured by 

 the crook, and then the shepherd notes her number and age, and enters it 

 in his pocket-book, and also by what ram tupped. The lamb then is num- 

 bered with the notclier, and this and its general appearance is noted down 

 in the appropriate columns. If the ewe is too v/ild to be caught, the lamb 

 may be notched — the number of the sire, &c., entei'ed — and the number 

 of the ewe subsequently ascertained in the pen. 



I have two forms of Breeding Registers, originally furnished me by my 

 lamented friend, the late Mr. Grove. One contains ten columns, the other 

 eight. I have adopted the simplest one, omitting two of the columns, 

 ■which leaves the Register in the following form : 



BREEDING REGISTER— 1845. 



Classification and Remarks. 



i Coarsish — wrinkly — thick, short-legged, and stout — 



I bad crops— ewe plenty of milk, and kind. 



( Fine — thin — long-legged — wool short — will lack 



I constitution — ewe kind — little milk. 



(■ Small, tiut of good shape and fine wool — No. 3 



) wrinkly and like .sire — No. 2 more like dam. — 



(^ Ewe plenty of milk, but careless. 



(The lamb was born dead, very small. Same last 



) year. This ewe had better be thrown out of 



( breeding. 



The first entry above records the following facts : " The ewe No. 22, 

 born in 1840, tupped by the ram No. 16 of 1839, dropped on the 4th of 

 May a ram lamb, which was marked No. 1, its character being as described 

 under the head of ' Classification and Remarks.' " 



The column of " Remarks" is a very important one, if the minutes are 

 made wi# accuracy and judgment. It should include an enumeration of 

 all the prominent characteristics of the lamb, and of the appearances of 

 the ewe as a breeder and nurse. These records will, in a single season, 

 decide the character of a ram as a stock-getter, and that of the ewe, in a 

 year or two, as a breeder and nurse. 



Em.\sculation and Docking. — These should usually precede washing, 

 as at that period the oldest lambs will be about a month old, and it is safer 

 to perform the operations when they are a couple of weeks younger. — 

 Dry, pleasant weather should be selected. Castration is a simple and safe 



(644) 



