SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 159 



cided within the first half hour of its birth whether the lamb 

 is to live or die. As soon as the lamb is born, if not able 

 to suck for itself at once, milk some of its mother's milk 

 into its mouth without delay, and if the lamb is naturally 

 strong and healthy, and the ewe a decent mother, there will 

 be very little trouble in raising it. 



Do not, from mistaken kindness, keep your lamb in a 

 warm pen more than a day or two, as nature has provided a 

 very warm lamb's-wool jacket, and thus clothed it enjoys 

 jumping about on the ice and snow as much as its dam, and 

 will gi'ow faster and be ready for market earlier than if kept 

 close or forced under glass. The lamb for early market 

 must be forced along with all it can be made to eat, besides 

 feeding its dam on the kind of food requisite to give the 

 greatest possible flow of milk. 



Arrange a little rack and trough in a corner of the shed, 

 fenced ofi" in such a way that the lambs can run in and out 

 freely, but which will keep out the ewes ; in the rack keep 

 the best of early cut rowen, and in the trough, grain. 

 . The first lambs are sometimes slow in learning to eat, 

 particularly if their dams are large milkers ; but after they 

 once begin to eat, the younger ones soon follow their ex- 

 ample. Bran seems to he the kind of grain a lamb prefers 

 at first to any other kind, and for that reason it is easier to 

 begin with it and gradually substitute other kinds of grain, 

 until your lambing has fairly begun ; and then my advice is, 

 to use for lambs intended for market and to be ready as soon 

 as possible, a mixture of finely ground corn meal with 

 enough old process oil meal added to keep their bowels in 

 the proper condition. Should the lambs show signs of con- 

 stipation add more oil meal, and if they begin to scour, 

 lessen the quantity of oil meal ; the proper proportions for 

 the mixture are from one-fourth to one-third oil meal. 

 The amount of grain lambs can eat and digest is perfectly 

 amazing, but the more they will eat the sooner they can be 

 killed for the market ; and if they want a quart and a pint a 

 day at thirty days old, they must have it. I do not believe 

 a lamb will or can eat enough of the above-described mix- 

 ture to hurt it or to produce a fit. With all other mixtures 

 I have tried, while I have raised some good lambs and had 



