Farm Sheep 187 



come on to the market with thinner flesh than wether 

 lambs raised under the same conditions. They also annoy 

 the ewes so they do not thrive. 



Castration is a simple operation involving little risk 

 when conducted with ordinary care and cleanliness. It 

 can best be performed when the lamb is from one to two 

 weeks old. The operation consists in cutting off the lower 

 end of the scrotum and drawing out the testicles, together 

 with the adhering cords. A little disinfectant poured into 

 the holes from which the testicles have been removed 

 prevents infection. The morning of a nice bright day 

 is the best time. 



Docking is also another operation commonly neglected 

 by farmers. Failure to dock causes a loss of twenty-five 

 to fifty cents a hundred pounds when the lambs are sold, 

 depending on the amount of dirt collected. Tails are 

 unnecessary appendages on sheep, and the blood nourish- 

 ing the useless tail would add, no doubt, to the growth 

 of the rest of the body. There are several ways of dock- 

 ing lambs ; namely, chopping off the tails with a mallet 

 and chisel, cutting off with a sharp knife, or removing 

 with hot pincers. Of these three methods the latter is 

 the most preferred as there is very little loss of blood when 

 it is practiced. In any case, the tail should be removed so 

 as to leave a stub or dock, which is one to one-and-one- 

 half inches long. This operation should be performed 

 on ewe lambs at one or two weeks of age, and with ram 

 lambs, it should follow from five to seven days after 

 castration. On large ranches, to save time, both castra- 

 tion and docking are performed at one time, but on smaller 

 farms better results are obtained where they are done 

 separately. The loss from castration and docking should 

 not be more than one lamb in five hundred. Strange to 



