Range Sheep 131 
between March first and May first and in the Southwest 
somewhat earlier. 
At lambing time, a number of extra men must be hired. 
During the other seasons of the year from 1500 to 3000 
sheep are handled in one band, but during the lambing 
season each one of the larger bands must be divided into 
a number of smaller ohes. As far as possible, the older 
and more experienced herders are put in charge of the 
lambing pens, and the owners and managers in this sea- 
son of the year are obliged to give the flocks the closest 
personal attention. There are two principal methods of 
lambing: namely, the open range and the lambing shed 
or tent. 
Lambing on the open range. 
Lambing on the open range differs from that in the shed 
primarily in that the sheep are herded on the range during 
the day and corralled at night. In different localities 
lambing on the open range varies somewhat, but the 
following may be taken as a fair example. At lambing 
time a night herder is placed in charge of the band. As 
soon as the lamb is born, it and its mother are removed 
from the corral and placed in a lambing pen and kept 
there until maternal relationships are well established. 
A lambing pen is a pen just large enough for a ewe and 
her lamb. Some sheep-men vary the above procedure 
by bedding the drop bands just outside the corrals. The 
lambs which are born during the night are, under this 
system, not disturbed unless something is radically wrong. 
~ The next morning the ewes which have no lambs move 
away from the bedding ground leaving the ewes and 
their young lambs behind. When the ewes have been 
bedded outside, this separation is comparatively natural 
