136 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



ewe has been delivered of her lamb or lambs, she should 

 be given w^ater from which the chill has been removed. 

 No change in the diet is called for other than that which 

 relates to quantity. No harm can come to the ewes from 

 taking all the fodder that they will eat such as they are 

 accustomed to, but grain and field roots should be fed 

 sparingly at first lest the milk flow should be over-stim- 

 ulated. With gradual increase, the ewe may usually be 

 put on what may be termed full feeding for a breeding 

 ewe within 7 to 10 days from the birth of her lambs, and 

 sometimes even sooner. 



Close attention should be given to the udder of a 

 newly delivered ewe. In some instances it may be more 

 or less inflamed when the lambs are born. In others, as 

 when the milk flow is very plentiful, the lamb may take 

 food from only one teat. In yet other instances, as when 

 but little milk is present, the teats are made sore by the 

 biting of the lambs in trying to get food. Frequent bath- 

 ing with warm water and then anointing with some 

 soothing unguent, as sweet oil, will prove helpful to an 

 inflamed udder. Milking out occasionally the side of the 

 udder neglected by the lamb, or what is better, to allow 

 a needy lamb to help itself for a few times, will remove 

 the difficulty. When the teats are thus made sore, it may 

 be necessary to allow the lambs to nurse the ewe only a 

 few times each day for a time. Should the wool around 

 the udder make it difficult for the lamb to find the teat, 

 it should be clipped away to the extent of removing the 

 obstruction. 



As the number of the lambs increases, such increase 

 brings with it more or less of diversity in age, and to meet 

 the needs of these, the necessity for division increases 

 accordingly. The aim should be to have the lambs which 

 occupy each apartment as near of an age as may be found 

 practicable under the conditions. This, however, becomes 

 less important as the lambs grow older. After the first 



