MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 289 



on water that is foul. Lamb creeps, lambing pens and such like 

 appliances are indispensable. Somebody once remarked that a 

 lamb creep' is better than a dispensary, if only there be plenty of 

 easily digestible food in it, and is worth all the sheep doctors 

 "that ever come over high waters." There is nothing like crowding 

 the little fellows if you want to make big fellows of them. The 

 one object of the early lamb raiser should be fat lambs at any 

 cost. 



Sheep do not have nearly so delicate an appetite as some 

 imagine. They will eat the commonest of rations, provided they 

 are clean and fed in a cleanly way, but, nevertheless, the food 

 used in the early lamb raising barn must be of the best. Foul 

 feed troughs are a sure precursor to failure in the early lamb 

 business. Variety of grain and roughage in abundance is what 

 makes early fat lambs. Both ewes and lambs in the early lamb 

 barn should be fed by the clock, and not at the shepherd's con- 

 venience. Self-feeders have no place in the early lamb raising 

 barn. A crying sheep cannot raise a fat lamb, and irregularly 

 fed sheep are always crying sheep. The shepherd must be on the 

 best terms possible with his flock, and feed with a view of stimu- 

 lating the ewes' milk supply, in order to insure success with the 

 early lambs. 



There should be very little loss in the early lamb business 

 where proper shelter and care are employed, unless the ewes are 

 too fat at breeding time. The early lamb raiser should make it a 

 point to be well supplied with roots, clover hay, etc., and not forget 

 to build the barn facing the south. One enterprising early lamb 

 raiser has had recourse to glass Artificially-heated barns for early 

 lamb raising. Different breeders of early lambs have different 

 methods of management and feeding. The following is a plan of 

 feeding that has given good results: Supposing the lambs have 

 commenced to eat, get out early in the morning and feed them 

 their grain rations, composed of about equal parts of finely crushed 

 oil-cake, corn and bruised oats with a little bran as a flavor rather 

 than as a food, and while they are eating this fill their hayracks 

 with the choicest clover hay the haymow affords. Then feed the 

 ewes their grain ration composed of about equal parts of bran 

 and oats with a dash of oil-meal. If roots are used, the grain 

 ration and the cut or pulped roots should be mixed 'together. 

 After the ewes have cleaned up their grain ration, hay should be 

 given. Whatever grain or hay the lambs do not eat up at the 

 regular meal should be reserved for the ewes. On no account 

 should young lambs be expected to eat stale food, that is, food 

 that they have "nosed over." At noon the lambs should receive 

 the same treatment as they received the first thing in the morn- 

 ing, but all that is necessary for the ewes is to give them what 

 the lambs left at breakfast time and which was reserved for them. 



