132 Western Live-stock Management 



and is effected without disturbing lambs to any great 

 extent. After the newly born lambs and their mothers 

 have been separated out, those lambs which do not seem 

 to be properly owned are put with their mothers in the 

 lambing pen, while the others are worked out on to the 

 range to graze. This system requires much less work 

 than where the ewes are corralled at night, but is probably 

 not quite so effective. 



During the daytime an extra herder follows the lambing 

 band and the young lambs and their mothers are sepa- 

 rated from the main band, generally known as the 

 "drop" band, and are gathered together in small bunches 

 of ten to thirty head. As soon as a small bunch of ewes 

 with their newly born lambs are gathered together, they 

 are left behind and a tall stake with a flag erected in or- 

 der to show their location. The ewes and their lambs will 

 not stray far from this place for the first twesty-four 

 hours. During the course of the day several of these 

 bands are separated out. They are not usually moved 

 the first night but left out on the range where they are 

 and the herder camps with them. Special precautions 

 are sometimes necessary to keep off wild animals. A 

 lantern may be hung on a stake to keep away the coyotes, 

 or the herder may fire off guns or fire crackers from time 

 to time. The next morning these small bunches of newly 

 born lambs are brought together and put with other 

 ewes and young lambs to form what is known as the 

 infant herd. 



A simple piece of equipment that has not yet been used 

 to a great extent on the range but which is growing in 

 popularity is a lambing blanket. This blanket is simply 

 a piece of canvas lined with soft cotton cloth. The 

 canvas is fifteen inches wide and sixteen inches long with 



