CHAPTER XXXII 

 THE LAMBING PERIOD 



Preparation for Lambing. — Quarters. — Lambing is usually 

 conducted under shelter and more space is needed for the flock at 

 this period than at any other time of the year. It should be broken 

 up into smaller divisions and ewes should be taken from the flock 

 and penned with their offspring. Under such circumstances every 

 nook and corner of the barn is occupied. 



If lambs are bom in cold weather warm quarters are a necessity. 

 The young lamb is most in need of a warm place immediately after 

 it is born, because it is wet and, not having had a fill of its mother's 

 milk, is more susceptible to the cold than at any other time. When 

 the weather is cold, the ewes almost due to lamb should be placed 

 in the warmest part of the barn and watched very closely. If it is 

 very cold it is well to place a comparatively large number together 

 so that the heat from their bodies will furnish enough warmth for 

 new-born lambs. 



The barn, as a whole, may be too open for lambing in cold 

 weather. But it should be possible to make a section into a warm 

 room by partitioning off that part which is most protected from 

 the cold winds, and by closing up the cracks and crevices that admit 

 the cold. Such a room will be warm enough unless the weather 

 should be extremely cold, in which case boards can be nailed about 

 four inches from the walls of the room and straw stuffed in between 

 them and the walls. In the attempt to make the room warm pro- 

 vision for ventilation should not be overlooked (Fig. 166). 



Lambing Pens.^ — The lambing pen is a necessary part of the 

 equipment for early lambing. Before or soon after a ewe has lambed 

 she should be placed in a pen about four feet square and having no 

 openings large enough to allow the lamb to escape. In this small 

 pen the ewe and her lamb become acquainted and accustomed to 

 each other much more quickly than they do when they are with the 

 flock, for upon first getting to its feet the lamb is without its " bear- 



•For construction of lambing pens see chapter on "Buildings and 

 Equipment." 

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