YOUNG LAMB TROUBLES 261 



she and her lamb are confined. The fear of the natural enemy 

 makes her seek the companionship of her offspring and arouses her 

 latent mother instinct. Use this as a last resort. 



Sometimes it is possible to induce a ewe to take her lamb by 

 keeping her and the lamb in the lambing pen and by holding her 

 frequently to allow the lamb to nurse. This plan will work if the 

 ewe's antipathy for her lamb is not marked. After the lamb becomes 

 pretty strong and has learned well the source of its feed it will 

 persistently tease at the mother for the privilege of nursing, which 

 helps to break down her stubbornness and hastens the time when she 

 will claim her lamb. 



Sometimes the ewe exhibits great dislike for her lamb, and she 

 does all she can to prevent it from nursing. She bunts it over when- 

 ever she has opportunity; she may even savagely trample it under 

 foot. An extended struggle is usually necessary for inducing such a 

 ewe to own her lamb. She should be tied up short so that she has 

 small chance to harm the lamb. As often as the shepherd can get 

 around to her he should force her to allow the lamb to nurse, since 

 in so doing he may make progress in breaking down her stubborn- 

 ness. It may be necessary to build a device which will not allow her 

 to move the rear of her body from side to side. As a last resort she 

 may lie down to keep her lamb from nursing, in which case some- 

 thing should be placed under her to hold her up. After every 

 scheme has been tried, from the mildest to the most severe, the ewe 

 may still remain unconquered. But if her lamb is strong and 

 plucky it may manage to get along if the shepherd can find time 

 to hold the ewe for it to nurse several times each day. 



When it happens that a ewe refuses to own one of a pair of 

 twins the shepherd finds himself in an exasperating situation, 

 especially during the first few days after the lambs are born, be- 

 cause the more the ewe dislikes one lamb the more she seems to like 

 the other. She attempts to give the favored lamb a great deal of 

 nursing, thus exhausting her supply of milk, so that there is noth- 

 ing for the disowned lamb when the shepherd comes around to give 

 it assistance. But if the unclaimed lamb can be carried through 

 until it has learned to go after food when its mate does the ewe 

 will soon be obliged to allow it to feed. The unclaimed lamb can 

 be given an equal chance with its mate by keeping both lambs in a 

 pen close to the mother where she can see them. Then when the 



