DOCKING AND CASTRATING LAMBS. 39 



able to give only the very best at hand to nursing ewes. The 

 after growth and condition of the lambs will greatly depend upon 

 the maintenance of a thrifty and continuous growth during the 

 first three months of their existence. 



At the age of a week the operations of docking and castrating 

 the male lambs, may be safely performed. At this age the young 

 animal suffers but little, there is no loss of blood, and the wounds 

 heal by the first intention. The rough and ready method of clip- 

 ping off the tail an inch from the rump, first drawing the skin 

 upwards, and of clipping off the scrotum and testicles altogether 

 with a pair of sharp sheep-shears, will be found perfectly safe if 

 done before the lamb is two weeks old. The nerves being very 

 slightly sensitive at this time, the painful, and when later per- 

 formed, dangerous operation of emasculation is only slightly felt, 

 and within an hour a lamb bereft of tail and generative organs 

 will frequently be seen skipping playfully in the sunshine. To 

 dock an older lamb is a more troublesome operation. To do this 

 with facility, a block of wood about a foot high, a sharp, broad 

 chisel, and a wooden mallet, are required. The operator stoops 

 with bended knees, the block being in front of him, takes the lamb 

 with its head between his knees and its tail in his left hand, hold- 

 ing the chisel in his right hand. Backing the lamb's rump up 

 close to the block, he lays the tail upon it, and drawing back 

 the skin of the tail up to the rump, holds the chisel lightly 

 upon the tail close to and below the fingers of the left hand. 

 When all is ready he directs an assistant to strike the chisel 

 smartly with the mallet, by which the tail is instantly severed 

 about two inches from the root. A pinch of powdered bluestone 

 (sulphate of copper), is placed on the wound, and the lamb is re- 

 leased. To castrate an old lamb with safety, the scrotum should 

 be opened by a long free incision with a sharp knife at the lower 

 point, the animal being at the time turned upon its back and 

 secured in that position. The scrotum should be held in the 

 hand tightly enough to keep the skin tense. The cut should be 

 made only through the skin and coats of the testicle, and not into 

 the gland, by which a great deal of pain is spared to the animal. 

 The gland will escape from the scrotum at once if the opening is 

 made large enough. It may be taken in the left hand and the cord 

 and vessels scraped apart, not cut, by which bleeding is prevented 

 and healing made m ore certain and rapid. The opening being made 

 at the bottom of the scrotum, allows the blood and any pus that 

 forms hi the wound, to escape freely. It might probably be bene- 

 ficial to insert a small plug of tow iu the wound, projecting out of 



