IO8 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



nutritious and abundant, the lambs in nearly all instances 

 will not require supplemental food other than that which 

 the pasture furnishes. But it is different with lambs not 

 yet turned out to graze. They should be given succulent 

 food such as may be available, and also grain, and they 

 should be given both as soon as they will eat them. 



The precise character of the grain fed and the amount 

 fed should be determined by the object for which the 

 lambs are reared. This question is further discussed be- 

 low under the subhead immediately following. The milk 

 flow of the dams may and ought to be well maintained 

 by liberal feeding. It is doubtful, however, whether it 

 will pay to feed grain to ewes on fresh grass for the 

 purpose of sustaining or increasing the milk flow. It is, 

 of course, legitimate to do this while the ewes are yet 

 on dry food, at least up to a certain limit, but experi- 

 ments have shown that the increase from grain fed 

 directly to lambs is more than the increase from the same 

 when the grain is fed to the lamb, as it were, through 

 the ewe for the purpose of increasing the milk for her 

 lamb. This fact greatly emphasizes the wisdom of hav- 

 ing the lambs take grain as soon as they will eat it when 

 confined to the sheds. 



Food suitable for young lambs When the dams are 

 on abundant pastures when the lambs are born, it is not 

 necessary to give them any food during the first months, 

 as usually they do not need it, and it would not be easy 

 to induce them to take it under such conditions. But in 

 the sheds it is different. In these the ewes do not usually 

 milk so plentifully, hence the aim should be to make up 

 the lack by giving food to the lambs ; and the earlier that 

 the lambs come the more important is it relatively that 

 such food shall be given to them. 



Young lambs will begin to nibble at fodders that are 

 suitable for them when from 7 to 10 or 12 days old. They 

 should have access to these apart from the ewes, as the 

 former would pick out all the finer portions such as the 



