MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 257 



but they can always be made to own them if one will persevere. 

 The author of this sketch has saved 5 per cent and over of a lamb 

 crop when the feed was good by means of this "bumming" system. 



Of course, if a ewe does not give enough milk for a lamb there 

 is no use in "bumming" her, as she will only starve the lamb 

 later, and if for some reason a ewe that has lost her lamb isn't dis j 

 covered before four or five days have elapsed, unless she is an 

 extraordinary good milker, there is no use to put her in the "bum" 

 pen, for she will go dry in a very short time. At times, when we 

 have but a few "bum" ewes up, we have tried the plan of keeping 

 them in all the time and feeding them alfalfa hay, but have never 

 made it work very successfully, as the ewes would often go dry 

 eating hay and invariably it took longer to make them claim their 

 lambs. 



Some herders follow the plan of corraling their dropping herd 

 at night and then cutting back the ewes with young lambs in the 

 morning as the herd goes out of the gate, while others "bed" their 

 dropping herd outside of any enclosure or corral. 



We have tried both plans and think the latter the better, 

 especially where one has a good sheltered place to "bed" his herd 

 in ; moreover, it is decidedly the best plan where there is no danger 

 of the young lambs freezing. 



When the dropping herd is "bedded down" outside they can 

 be quietly moved off the bed ground of a morning and the ewes 

 with young lambs left, each one with her lamb on the "bed 

 ground." Afterward when the dropping herd has been gotten 

 away these ewes with young lambs can graze quietly on the "bed 

 ground." There should be a herder in charge to see that none of 

 them stray away and to protect them from wild animals. This 

 bunch of ewes with young lambs that were born during the night 

 is known during the first day as the "infant" herd. 



In case there were any ewes that disowned or deserted their 

 lambs and went off with the "dropping" herd the "dropping" herd 

 should be taken to a nearby corral and all ewes having lambs 

 carefully searched out and put in "bum" pens. After the "drop" 

 herd has been carefully searched over and gone out to graze for 

 the day the motherless lambs should be picked out of the "infant" 

 herd, which is still on the "bed ground," and put with the ewes 

 in the "bum" pens. 



With a large dropping herd, where there are from 50 to 100 

 lambs being dropped daily, and as many more at night, it is im- 

 possible to get all of the lambs that have been dropped during the 

 day into camp at night, so in order to protect these lambs from 

 the depredations of wild animals it is necessary to detail a man, 

 or generally two men, to sleep with the ewes and lambs that have 

 been left out on the range. These two men as one man can't 



