YOUNG LAMB TROUBLES 259 



normal the procedure is the same as outlined above for weak lambs. 



When a lamb is born with a thickened tongue it is impossible 

 to handle it successfully. Although strong, it is drowsy and utterly 

 unable to nurse. It is best to give up a lamb of this sort at once. 



Handling the Chilled Lamb. If the lambing occurs when the 

 weather is cold there will probably be some chilled lambs. There is 

 hope for the chilled lamb as long as life is not extinct. One of the 

 best ways to proceed with it if it is badly chilled is to immerse all 

 but its head in water as warm as the elbow can bear. As the water 

 becomes cool hot water should be added to maintain the proper tem- 

 perature. The purpose of the bath is to start and to invigorate the 

 circulation, hence when the lamb becomes somewhat lively it should 

 be removed. Immediately upon being taken from the water the 

 lamb should be enveloped by a large towel and rubbed briskly until 

 dry. It should then be fed and placed in a warm spot for its sleep. 



If the lamb is not so badly chilled as to require the bath it may 

 be revived by wrapping it well and giving it a stimulant, such as 

 a teaspoonful of gin or whiskey in a little warm milk. If it is 

 placed near a heated stove it should be well wrapped in a cloth or 

 a sheep pelt, because the air currents about the stove and direct 

 contact with the heat seem to have a detrimental effect. 



Joe Wing advocated placing a chilled lamb in a barrel half 

 filled with bran and containing a good sized jug of warm water; 

 and Herbert Radwell, shepherd for R. J. Stone, Stonington, Illinois, 

 keeps a barrel half filled with straw near the furnace in the base- 

 ment of the house. If a ewe lambs on a cold night he takes her 

 lamb away from her before she has seen it and keeps it in this 

 barrel until morning. He says he avoids a great many cases of chill- 

 ing in this way and the ewe never refuses to own her lamb when it 

 is returned to her. 



One important thing to remember about the chilled lamb is that 

 it should be fed as soon as it has become revived. Another im- 

 portant thing is that it should be kept away from its mother no 

 longer than is absolutely necessary, for there is danger (Radwell's 

 case excepted) of her refusing to own it if it has been away from 

 her very long (Fig. 174). 



Young Lamb Troubles. The Disowned Lamb. It is very 

 annoying to have a ewe disown her lamb, because it not only brings 

 about trouble, but her desertion of it appeals to one as being unjust. 

 We do not know what makes a ewe refuse to claim her lamb. Many 



