Diseases of Sheep. 



337 



signed in the mean time on tlie near side, then the third lot on 

 the near hip, reversing the side at the next occasion. If any return 

 to be served again, "svhich is usually the case after 15 days, I make 

 a fresh mark on the place to which lot it belongs. This system 

 enables me to draw out my early ewes, and keep them in a yard 

 a few nights Ijefore lambing. Many may think it of small im- 

 portance to know which ewes wdll be the first to lamb, but my 

 reason is that I dislike the favourite system of keeping them 

 folded (except only for a few" nights pre^dous to lambing) : it 

 makes them susceptible of cold, and this is often followed by inflam- 

 mation of the womb. I am aware that the plan of marking my rams 

 with ochre is rather uncertain, for they sometimes leap the ewe 

 without connexion taking place ; but it is the best, and indeed the 

 only one that is practicable. If the ewe has not been impregnated, 

 the failure wall be discovered by her returning again to the ram in 

 about 1 5 days. After the ram has been 2 months with the flock, 

 it will generally be found that all have been served, and then 

 he should be removed. Sometimes he is suffered to continue 

 with them, but the effect of this is that every here and there an 

 ewe will prove in lamb at a late period of the summer, w hen she 

 is in good condition, and would produce more by a sale to the 

 butcher than by breeding. After the ewes are large, they should 

 be kept quiet and undisturbed. It is not only unnecessary but 

 prejudicial to overfeed them at this time, for it is apt to occasion 

 inflammatory attacks at the time of yeaning. Quiet is also very 

 important, and to secure it they should be only attended by a 

 steady old dog • a noisy, troublesome puppy should on no account 

 be allowed. The fences should be kept in good order, to pre- 

 vent their breaking ground. If heavy ewes are galloped al^out 

 by dogs, or allowed to break pasture, it will most assuredly cause 

 them to slip their lamb : these ewes will then be offensive to the 

 rest of the flock, independently of the danger to the ewes and 

 positive loss sustained by the abortions.'"^' 



When the period of lambing arrives much care and attention 

 are requisite. The shepherd must receive it as a general maxim 

 to be most attentively observed, that Nature is the best midwife. 

 He must not be led by the appearance of uneasiness and pain 

 to interfere prematurely ; he must watch the ewe closely, and so 

 long as she rises at his approach he may be assured that, what- 

 ever uneasiness she may exhibit, all is well. IMuch uneasiness is 

 generally apparent— she will repeatedly lie down and rise again 

 with seeming distress. If this occurs when drimig her to fold, he 



* The ewes ought to have plenty of careful exercise ; that is, be brought 

 up at nights into a straw-yard ; and if the turnips on which they are fed be a 

 quarter of a mile from the spot, it will be all the better, as all animals with 

 young should have a due degree of exercise. — J. W. CmLDERS. 



