.Ewe Management. 39 



necessary to give as near as can be concordant privileges, 

 and as little disturbance as possible should be extended 

 if the pregnant ewe is to be encouraged to express its 

 propensity to liberally reproduce its race, and if the pro- 

 fits of sheep farming are not to be tagged with a heavy 

 discount. Under good treatment lambings of 150% 

 are not uncommon, and proper attention given to robust 

 ewes will in favourable situations earn this high reward. 

 Many New Zealand lambing percentages do not reach 

 half of the natural capacity of the animal, and the mean 

 for the whole of the Dominion is about 85%. 



So that the ewe's condition of wellbeing may be 

 thorough, the best time to begin attention to her is in 

 her youth, as a lamb, so as to fit her properly and get 

 her body developed on sound lines towards the improve- 

 ment of future sheep generations. Great attention is 

 wisely paid by many to the selection of the ram, and to 

 its condition for breeding purposes, but however good 

 the ram is, the minimising of the ewe's condition is as 

 so much nullification of the ram's qualities. 



If, as a general principle, the ewe lambs destined for 

 flock breeding, purposes are, when weaned, placed on 

 good, clean, short grass, and afterwards on moderately 

 good country, calling for some travelling or ranging, 

 making the conditions conducive more to fitness by 

 sound feed and exercise than to poorness or fatness, it 

 is the first and best step towards making good ewes of 

 them. They should receive a rational wintering, so 

 that they get no check to their progress at 

 this taxing and lowering time of the year, by 

 avoidance of overstocking on a purely pastoral farm, or 

 by root and fodder supplementation where the growth of 

 such is undertaken. If a bad season pinches, the careful 

 stocking is all that can be done on a pastoral place, and 

 the loss of profits means also a discounted value for the 

 land. But the supply of roots and fodders at the pinch- 



