Establishing the Flock. 15 



the ram is painted with another color, and in this 

 way the breeder is enabled to find out whether the 

 ewes are returning or not. Some breeders put a 

 different color on the ram the third time, and if all 

 ewes return after being bred two or three times, 

 another ram should be secured. The writer has 

 seen rams that apparently did their duty well and 

 bred many ewes, but never got a single one with 

 lamb. 



However, even if the first half dozen or so of 

 ewes served do return, the shepherd need not nec- 

 essarily worry about the ram's not being a breeder. 

 Indeed, the writer has observed that very com- 

 monly the first few ewes bred by any ram will 

 return. 



It is a peculiar fact that where the ram is left 

 with the flock he may pay all his attention to one 

 ewe and entirely neglect others which are in heat, 

 thereby needlessly wearing out his vitality. In 

 such a case the ram seems instinctively to take a 

 liking to this one ewe. All this will be prevented 

 where hand coupling is followed. 



THE NUMBER OF EW^ES ALLOW^ED TO ONE RAM. 



Not more than fifty to fifty-five ewes should be 

 bred to one ram in a season. The writer has ob- 

 served in his many years of experience that even 

 with this number of ewes to one ram and where 



