Book VIL REARING OF SHEEP. 1055 



severity of the season. Whenever this is the case, they should be carefYilIy removed into a proper degree 

 of warmth and shelter till perfectly restored. It is likewise a necessary as well as useful practice, as they 

 lamb down, to take them and their lambs away from the common stock, putting them into a })iece of 

 turnips or fresh dry jjasture where there is shelter when necessary, as by this means much fewer lambs 

 would be lost than would otherwise be the case. It is also found, that by a proper supply of turnips or 

 other similar green food at this period, the milk of the ewes is much increased, and the growth of the 

 lambs greatly promoted ; which is of much future importance, as when they are stinted at this early 

 period of their existence, they never turn out so well afterwards for the farmer. With the green and 

 root crops and preserved after-grass, hay, straw, corn, and oil-cake are in somc> cases made use of in the 

 winter support of sheep stock. With turnips, where the soil is not sufficiently dry to admit the sheep, it 

 is the practice to draw them and convey them to a sound firm pasture, that the ewes may be baited upon 

 them once or twice in the day as there may be occasion, care being taken that they are eaten up clean, as 

 the circumstance of their being thus eaten may serve as a guide to the farmer for the supply that may be 

 daily necessary. In this way this sort of food will be consumed with the greatest economy. Where the 

 land is perfectly dry, and the intention is to manure it for a grain crop, eating the turnips on the land, by 

 means of jwrtions hurdled off as wanted, is a good practice. With this sort of food, especially where it 

 produces scouring in the ewes, green rouen hay, cut straw, or peas haulm should constantly be given, and 

 also with rape, &c. 



7160. The castrating Iambs may be performed any time from the age of a fortnight or three weeks to 

 that of a month or six weeks, and in some districts it is deferred to a considerably later period. It is, 

 however, the safest method to have it executed early, as there is less danger of too much inflammation 

 taking place. But in all cases the lambs should be in a healthy state when it is done, as under any other 

 circumstances they are liable to be destroyed by it. The operation is usually performed by the shepherd, 

 by opening the scrotum or cod and drawing out the testicles with the spermatic cord. This he often does 

 with his teeth in the young state of the animal ; but where the operation is performed at a later period, 

 it is usual to have recourse to the knife, the arteries being taken up and secured by means of ligatures, or 

 the searing iron. The business, if possible, should be done in fine weather, when not too warm, and the 

 gelded lambs be kept in a dry, sheltered, quiet situation for a few days, until the inflammation is gone off. 

 If it should happen to be wet at the time, it may be advisable to have them under some sort of shelter 

 where they can nave room to move freely about. 



7161. The weaning of lambs should be effected when they are three or four months old, as about July; 

 but it is done more early in some districts than in others. A proper reserve of some fresh pasture grass, 

 where there may be a good bite for the lambs to feed upon, should be had recourse to, as it is of much 

 consequence that an ample provision of this sort be had, in order that the growth of this young stock may 

 not suffer any check on being taken from the mother. Where they have been continued so long as to 

 graze with the dams, little check will be sustained in their separation if turned upon such good feed. 

 Some advise clover in blossom as the most forcing sort of food in this intention, and with others sarntfoin 

 rouen is highly valued for the same purpose. When good feed is not provided of some of these kinds, the 

 lambs soon decline in flesh, or, in the technical language of the flock, are said to pitch ; and when once 

 this happens they never afterwards thrive so well, however good the management may be. With regard 

 to the ewes, they should be removed to such distant pastures or other places as that they may not be heard 

 by the lambs, which would cause them to be disturbed in their feeding; and where the ewes sustain any 

 inconvenience from their milk, as by their udders swelling, it should be drawn once or twice, as by this 

 means bad consequences may be prevented : and as soon as the lambs have been removed, the ewes are 

 returned upon the pastures destined for their summer support. There is, however, one caution to be 

 attended to in first turning the lambs upon rich keep, which is that of letting them be in some degree 

 satisfied with food previously, that they may not be surfeited by too quick and full feeding, and heave or 

 hove as it is termed; keeping them gently moving about the field has also been advised in this intention. 

 In some places, where the lands are of the more poor kind, it is a custom to send the lambs to the more 

 rich vale or marsh districts, to be brought forward in condition or fattened. In those cases where the 

 lands of the male kind are reared on the home lands as wethers, they are usually restored to the flock in 

 the latter end of the year, but which is not by any means a good practice, as they often suffer for want of 

 proper keep in the winter, and lose what they had previously gained in growth and condition. A practice 

 the reverse of this has long been in use among the store-masters of Scotland. They send their lambs, as 

 soon as weaned, to some rough coarse pasture, often at a distance of several miles, where they remain for 

 six or eight weeks. The opinion is, that this renders them more hardy. Some grounds are occupied 

 chiefly for this purpose, being kept for summering lambs, as it is called, the owner of the lamb paying a 

 penny or three halfpence a week for each. The practice, it is believed, is not now so common as it has 

 been. 



Sect. IV. Rearing and general Management of Sheep. 



7162. In the practice of sheep husbandry different systems are had recourse to, according 

 to the extent and nature of the farms on which they are kept, and the methods of farming 

 that are adopted on them ; but under all circumstances the best sheep-masters constantly 

 endeavour to preserve them in as good condition as possible at all seasons. 



7163. With the pasture Mnds of sheep this is particularly the case; and with the view of accomplishing 

 it in the most complete manner, it is useful to divide them into different parcels or lots in respect to their 

 ages and sorts, as by that practice they may be kept with greater convenience and benefit than in large 

 flocks together under a mixture of difterent kinds ; as in this way there is not only less waste of food, but 

 the animals thrive better, and the pastures are fed with much more ease. The advantage of this manage- 

 ment has been fully experienced in many of the northern districts, where they usually divide the sheep 

 stock into lambs, yearlings, wethers, and breeding ewes : and in this method it appears not improbable 

 that a much larger proportion of stock may be kept, and the sheep be preserved in a more healthy condition. 

 With a breeding stock the sheep-master must act according to his circumstances, situation, and capital 

 which he possesses, either selling the lambs to go to keep, fattening them for grass lamb, suckling them for 

 house lamb, or keeping them on to be grazed and sold as store or fat wethers; the ewes being sold lean or 

 in store condition, or fattened, as circumstances, profit, and convenience may point out. 



7164. Another practice, but which requires much capital as well as knowledge, experience, and atten- 

 tion, is that of breeding and fattening off all lambs, both wethers and ewes, especially where markets for 

 their sale when fat are conveniently situated ; or this system may be partially acted upon, varying the 

 plan according to capital, circumstances, and the nature of the times. In which case, whenever store 

 stock become extravagantly high, it is mostly a good way to sell. 



7165. The sheep farming of the arable or low warm districts of the kingdom conse- 

 quently differs in various particulars from that of the hilly and mountainous districts ; 

 we shall, therefore, first give a general view of the sheep management of arable lands, 

 and next of mountainous districts. 



