CHAP. in. SHEEP AND LAMB CALENDAR. 1049 



so heavy that he cannot spare time for it, additional help should be 

 given. Ewes should not be kept in the yards longer than is necessary, 

 or foot-rot becomes inevitable. Lambs should be tailed and castrated 

 when they are from 12 days to a fortnight old, a fine afternoon being 

 chosen for the purpose ; ram lambs must not be disturbed until the 

 next morning, when they will get up with nothing more than a little 

 stiffness, which will soon pass off. Be careful to supply shelter from 

 the wind and wet in the fields. The ewes will do well on swedes at 

 this season, but as the lambs get old enough to range and feed on green 

 food they should be allowed to run forward on some crop which supplies 

 them with soft tops, such as thousand-headed kale, turnips, or rape : 

 the corn troughs should be placed outside the ewe's pen to get the 

 lambs into the habit of running forward. Silage is very useful for ewes 

 at this season. 



MARCH. 



Sheep generally thrive during this month if they have a plentiful 

 supply of food, for though the weather is often cold, it is one of the 

 dry months of the year, and as the green food is well ripened the 

 animals make rapid progress. Thousand-headed kale should always be 

 at hand in case the other crops fall short, but if it can be saved until 

 next month so much the better. Mangel, being now thoroughly ripe, 

 is very valuable. Swedes begin to lose their nutritive qualities 

 towards the end of the month, and, as the land is required for barley, 

 they should be fed off. The medium-early ewes those which are 

 expected to lamb in time for the early grass begin to lamb, and 

 therefore they must receive extra attention. Be careful to maintain 

 them in condition, and to provide proper shelter for them, and other- 

 wise treat them on the lines advised for the earlier breeders. If fat 

 sheep are clipped before being sent to market they should be kept 

 warm by means of coarse thick jackets ; it is not only cruel to the 

 sheep to expose them to the cold, wet, and draughts of railway trucks 

 and markets, but it does actual harm to the meat, for if it is chilled it 

 will not set properly a fact well known to butchers, who regulate their 

 prices accordingly. 



APRIL. 



This is generally a very unsettled month in the management of 

 sheep, for it marks the change from winter methods of feeding to those 

 of summer. It is only on the very early pastures and water meadows 

 that any considerable growth can be relied upon, but there are seasons 

 when there is a fair head of grass before the end of the month. These 

 are the exceptions, and the only way to carry on sheep-farming suc- 

 cessfully is to guard against the scarcity of food which is so frequent 

 at this period. More money is often made in six weeks by holding 

 over keep, and buying in sheep at this season, than in the whole of the 

 previous six months. It must not be forgotten that the pinch comes 

 between roots and grass, and if dry cold weather prevails during April 

 and the early part of May, those who are overstocked will have to sell 



