512 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK iv. 



to be folded on rye, going also on the water meadows from eleven to 

 three each day. This commenced the course of summer keep, pre- 

 viously mentioned, which is continued for five months. 



We proceed to give an account of the management of young sheep 

 throughout the year. 



The early breeds, such as the Downs, begin to lamb at Christmas, 

 and the greater number of the lambs fall in January and February. 

 The males should be castrated when from 12 to 14 days old, a dry 

 afternoon being chosen for the operation. As soon as the lambs can 

 feed they are enticed to eat corn, the best forms of which at this stage 

 are linseed-cake meal, pea-husk, and crushed oats ; this is put into 

 troughs placed outside the pens containing the ewes, and, if possible, 

 on ground cropped with turnips, rape, kale, or kohl-rabi, which carry 

 succulent young shoots that the lambs very soon learn to eat. The 

 lambs pass through lamb-creeps, which are hurdles specially made to 

 allow them to run in and out of the pen, but will not permit the ewes 

 to pciss. When it is desired to hasten the lambs forward so that they 

 may be fit for the butcher at Easter, or are to be got up in readiness 

 for sale as rams in August and September, it is customary and advis- 

 able to give the ewes a liberal diet, part of which is cake, or cake, oats, 

 and peas, so that they make a large quantity of milk, whereby the 

 lambs are fed through their mothers. As much as a pound of corn is 

 given to the ewes daily at first, and this is gradually diminished as the 

 lambs eat more. As a rule, the ewe lambs which are to enter the 

 breeding flock are not so liberally fed. As mixed a diet as possible is 

 provided for the lambs, which, in addition to the corn already mentioned, 

 receive split peas as they get older. Towards April they are put upon 

 the autumn-sown catch crops, water-meadows if they are available, or 

 other early meadows, or Italian rye-grass, the ewes receiving mangel to 

 eke out the green food. 



It is at this time that thousand-headed kale is particularly valuable, 

 as in backward springs when there is a considerable period between 

 the finishing of the root-crop and the growth of sufficient grass or 

 clovers to feed, it affords abundant fodder ; in fact, it is at its best if 

 planted early in the previous year, about May. When the clovers are 

 fit to stock, there is little trouble in finding food for lambs, but care 

 must be taken when feeding a portion of the crop that there will be fresh 

 food for them in the latter part of summer. If lambs are made to 

 feed off a crop twice in a season, unless it has been mown between 

 the times of feeding off, they are almost certain to become unhealthy. 

 Therefore it is necessary to arrange the mowing and feeding, so that 

 there may be a fresh bite until they are placed on roots in the autumn. 

 Where grass is available the lambs will do well, but they must not be 

 kept in one pasture too long. By July early cabbages and autumn-sown 

 kale should be in readiness for the lambs, so that they may be folded 

 on them at night. 



The shepherd's duties in summer time, beyond providing food, are 

 to keep the sheep sound in skin and feet. The lambs should be dipped 



