MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 209 



no great trouble in getting the nourishment which nature intended 

 for it when a ewe is fixed thus, and it is but a matter of a few days 

 before, the ewe is cowed out and seems to understand what her 

 mission in life is. 



WEANING THE LAMBS. 



The author has often remarked that there are two critical 

 periods in the life of the lamb, the first few hours after birth and 

 the first few days after weaning. Where lambs are not properly 

 weaned, parasitic troubles are bound to make their appearance. 

 It is the lamb that is losing ground that is usually attacked with 

 worms and other parasitic ailments. The author's experience has 

 been that the earlier the lambs are weaned in season the more 

 rapid is their progress. To allow the lamb to harass the ewe when 

 it is well able to take care of itself is wrong. As soon as the 

 pastures get hard and dry the lambs should be put on rape or 

 second growth clover. The ewes will keep in good enough con- 

 ditton on less luxuriant pasturage. Lambs should be weaned at 

 from three to four months and put on fresh clover pasture. 



Unless great care is observed a serious checking of growth will 

 occur at weaning time. It is well to teach the lambs to eat grain 

 before weaning. Since the best ewes will be poor at weaning time, 

 it is well to cull the "beefy" ewe at this season. Give her a little 

 extra feed and sell her to the butcher, for such of her class are 

 unprofitable to keep. When the lambs are first taken from their 

 mothers they should not be allowed within each other's hearing 

 for obvious reasons. 



REVIVING A CHILLED LAMB. 



To revive a chilled lamb, place it in warm flannel near the 

 stove or give it a hot bath. It is well to rub the limbs of the little 

 patient to encourage circulation. Chilled lambs suffer considerably 

 from constipation- for a day or so after they have been revived, 

 especially is this so of those revived by the hot-bath process. Warm 

 milk should be administered slowly as soon as the lamb shows 

 signs of coming to itself. Some shepherds say a little gin or 

 whisky is good for reviving a chilled lamb and, without doubt, 

 it is. After the lamb has been returned to its mother, the shepherd 

 must be on the outlook for bowel troubles. 



DRENCHING SHEEP. 



To drench a sheep "to death" is wholly unnecessary and would 

 be of rare occurrence if those administering the drench took the 

 trouble to study the anatomy of their subjects. To force the 

 drenching bottle too far down the throat of the sheep is to court 

 trouble. The subject must not be forced to take its medicine with 

 too strong a hand. The bottle should be placed on the palate and 



