PEEIOD OF GESTATION. 207 



Another mode is to use no teasers, but to drive in the 

 flock selected for a particular ram twice a day, and let him 

 loose in it ; and as soon as a ewe is served to draw her out. 

 After three or four are served, the ram is returned to his 

 quarters, and the remainder of the flock to the field. A very 

 vigorous ram may be allowed to serve from eight to ten ewes 

 a day. This last mode is now generally preferred. It takes 

 up but little more time than the other. It saves the expense 

 and trouble of keeping teazers, which must be frequently 

 changed ; for after making their fruitless efforts for two or 

 three days, they generally almost cease to mark ewes. Lambs 

 and yearlings are nearly useless as teazers. Good stock rams 

 ought not to be put on this seryice, for it rapidly reduces 

 them in condition. 



Any mode of effecting the object in view — one on the 

 correct management of which the success of breeding so 

 much depends — must be conducted with rigid accuracy, so 

 that the mark on the ewe shall in all cases indicate the ram 

 actually used. An erroneous record is vastly worse than 

 none. It misleads the owner, and cheats the purchaser who 

 buys with reference to its showings. 



The served ewes should be returned to the ram after the 

 thirteenth day. If they come in heat again, it is usually from 

 the fourteenth to the seventeenth day; but the number is 

 ordinarily quite small if the ram is a good one, and is well 

 managed. * 



Peeiod of Gestation. — The time during which ewes go 

 with young frequently varies upwards of a week — in some 

 unusual cases, nearly two weeks. They usually go longer 

 with ram than with ewe lambs. The average period of 

 gestation does not usually vary much from one hundred and 

 fifty-two days. 



Management of Kams Dueing Coupling. — Whatever 

 system of coupling is adopted, the ram demands extra care 

 and feed dming the season of it. Whether taken from the 

 flock only at night, or kept from it entirely except when 



* A ram whicli has been ill, or overworked, may not get lambs one year and may 

 prove a sure lamb-getter the next. Sometimes rams fail in this respect in the opening 

 of the season, but not subsequently — or vice versa. ■ Occasionally a Merino ram is 

 hung so low in the sheath that he cannot serve a ewe. If he is valuable, some persons 



five him the advantage of a platform, raised three or four inches. Others buckle a 

 road strap tight enough around his body to elevate the point of the sheath sufficiently. 

 With some rams confinement to dry feed a few days is all that is necessary. 



