144 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



Management of ewes to be discarded — The weaning 

 season furnishes an opportune time for determining on 

 which member of the flock shall be discarded. There 

 may be instances when these should be sold at once. This 

 will be in order, first, with ewes that suckled early lambs, 

 and that are as a result of heavy grain feeding in a con- 

 dition of good flesh when the lambs are weaned ; and, 

 second, when at the time of the autumn weaning of the 

 lambs, aged ewes are to be discarded in the absence of 

 such grazing as rape on which to fatten them. The lat- 

 ter when sold thus may bring only a low price, and yet 

 it may be more profitable to sell them thus than to try 

 to fatten them. 



Ewes are usually in a somewhat lean condition at the 

 weaning season, and they are not easily fattened when 

 so old that their teeth have begun to fail. No method of 

 making them ready for the market has been found supe- 

 rior to that which fattens them on rape pasture. Such a 

 pasture well advanced in growth should fit them for the 

 market in, say two months from the time when they are 

 given access to it. It is not really essential that grain 

 shall be given to them at the same time, although in some 

 instances it may hasten the fattening process. 



Usually no profit would result from carrying such 

 ewes on into the winter and fattening them at that sea- 

 son. The cost or value of the food would usually be more 

 than the advance in the return that would accrue from 

 the fattening process. Aged ewes, if fattened thus, should 

 have the grain ground for them. Should the ewes be dis- 

 carded for any other reason than that of advanced age, 

 it may prove more profitable to carry them on into the 

 winter before disposing of them. 



Attentions miscellaneous in character — Attention 

 should be given to many details of management, all of 

 which it would be impossible to enumerate. Prominent 

 among these, however, are the following: (i) The ven- 

 tilating of the sheds; (2) the bedding of the sheds and 



