LAMBS FROM BIRTH UNTIL WEANED III 



in a sense, a safeguard against tearing wool. The feed 

 trough may be, say, 14 inches wide at the bottom, 16 

 inches at the top and 2 to 3 inches deep. A board several 

 inches wide should run along the trough and supported 

 so that the lambs can eat beneath it but cannot at the 

 same time get into the trough with their feet. The 

 trough should have cross pieces underneath that will keep 

 it above the level of the litter. 



The first lambs that come will be encouraged to eat 

 sooner than they otherwise would by putting a little meal 

 into the lamb's mouth when a few days old. The younger 

 lambs will learn to eat from the example of the older ones. 

 The meal should be put into the trough two or three 

 times a day and any left removed as often. No kind of 

 food should be left with them until it becomes stale. The 

 danger is slight that lambs will eat too much, but it has 

 been claimed that gouty rheumatism and paralysis more 

 or less complete have been caused by the blood becom- 

 ing so thick that it did not circulate properly. 



Young lambs properly fed will gain more in propor- 

 tion to their weight than calves. The weight of the aver- 

 age calf at birth will not be far from 81 pounds, and of 

 the average lamb not far from nine pounds, or one-ninth 

 of the former. High feeding that will secure 90 pounds 

 of increase in the former, will secure 20 pounds or two- 

 ninths as much in the latter. Lambs will also make at 

 least as economical gains for the food consumed as 

 young swine. 



Weaning lambs The age at which lambs should be 

 weaned is modified by such conditions as (i) the sea- 

 son when they came into life, (2) the object for which 

 they are grown, and (3) the disposition that is to be 

 made of the dams. When lambs come early they may 

 be given a longer period of nursing than when they come 

 late, as in such instances the ewes have time enough to 

 get into an improved condition after prolonged nursing 

 before they are bred again. When grown for show pur- 



