ceed at once in sucking, it is the best plan for the shepherd soon to give the lamb its first suck in this way, which not only saves it much trouble, and gives it strength, but affords himselfa favourable opportunity of examining the state ofthe udder, whether it is well, or feels hard, or is inflamed. Gimmers generally have so scanty a supply of milk, that it is expedient for the shepherd to support their lambs partially on cow's milk until they have the requisite supply, which will be induced partly by suckling, and partly from increased nourishment from the new grass. 2553. When the shepherd has lambs to support for a short time, he should supply them with the cow's milk at regular hours, such as in the morning and evening, immediately after the cows have been milked, and see the lambs suckled by their mothers during the day, and thus endeavour to bring on a sufficiency of milk. The dairy-maid should put the cow's milk for the shepherd in bottles, when the cows are milked in the morning and evening, and he should feed the young lambs while the milk is warm from the cow, and he feeds them in this way: Sitting down, he takes a mouthful of milk from a bottle, and holding up the mouth of the lamb open, he lets the warm milk drop into it in a small stream from his mouth, which the lamb drinks as fast as it comes; and thus mouthful after mouthful until the lamb is filled. The auxiliary supply of milk should be withheld whenever the ewe can support her lambs, for cow's milk is not so good for the lamb as that of its own mother. 2554. The ewes are kept on the lambing ground till they have recovered from the effects of lambing, the lambs have become strong, and the ewes and lambs have become well acquainted with each other. The time required for all this depends on the nature of the lambing, and the state of the weather: the more severe the lambing has been, and the more broken the weather, they are kept the longer in ward. 2555. When quite recovered, the ewes, with their lambs, are then put into a field of new grass, where the milk will flush upon the ewes, much to the advantage of the lambs. It is generally a troublesome matter to drive ewes with young lambs to any distance to a field, as the ewes always turn round upon and bewilder the lambs. A dog more frequently irritates the ewes than assists the shepherd in this task. I believe the best plan is to lead the flock instead of driving it, by carrying a single lamb, belonging to an old ewe, by the fore legs-which is the safest way of carrying a lamb-and walking slowly with it before the ewe, and she will follow bleating close at the shepherd's heels, while the rest of the ewes will follow her. If the distance to the field is considerable, the decoy lamb should be set down to suck and rest, and another taken for the purpose. 2556. With plenty of food, and a safeguard of net and lantern at their lair at night, to keep off the foxes, the flock will thrive apace. Such a safeguard is rarely adopted. To know whether the fox has attacked a lamb, he always seizes it by the neck behind the head, and, if scared at this moment, distinct holes made by the teeth will be found on each side of the neck; whereas a dog seizes any part of the body, and worries by tearing the under part of the neck. The fox, if not immediately disturbed, carries off his prey, whilst the dog leaves behind him what he does not eat. Some ewes will fight off either dog or fox, and be able to protect a single lamb; whilst others become so afraid at once by an attack, that they know not whither to flee for refuge. After such an attack, the bleatings of the ewes and lambs in search of each other-an unusual occurrence at night-will soon acquaint the shepherd at a distance of the disaster that has happened to his flock. In 2557. In unnatural presentations, if the head is bent back, it must be brought forward, and if one or both legs be folded back, they must also be brought forward, one by one, into their proper position. short, all the unnatural presentations offered by a lamb require the same means to be used to place them in a proper position as with the calf; but with the Leicester ewe is the additional difficulty over the cow, of two, and even more lambs at a birth, and the increased chance of mistaking a leg of one lamb for that of another. 2558. The preceding cases of lambing are all easy to the shepherd; but others occur which put his skill to the test. Malformations of the body of the lamb create difficult parturition, and endanger the life of the ewe. It is almost impossible to bring the head of a wry-necked lamb into the passage of the womb, but it must be done before the entire body can be extracted; and, if it cannot be done, the head of the lamb should be taken off rather than the ewe should lose her life. 2559. Sometimes twin lambs die in the womb several days before the period of lambing; and as they cannot present themselves in the berth, they must be extracted by force, or even cut away in pieces; and when corruption has proceeded a considerable length, they may be pulled away in pieces. In such a case the placenta will be corrupted, and it may be a considerable time before it is entirely got rid of by the straining of the ewe. I have seen it so corrupted as to come away in small discharges as black and viscid as tar. 2560. A breech presentation is a difficult one, and the extraction is impracticable until the hind legs are first brought out; and in extracting by the breech, the operation should be done quickly at the last to prevent the lamb drowning in the liquor amni. In all cases of extraction, it should be made a point to have the back of the lamb next to the back of the ewe. To obtain these ends, it may be necessary to place the ewe upright upon its shoulder on the ground and its tail uppermost, to cause the lamb to retire into the womb while the shepherd introduces his hand to arrange and bring forward the hind legs in the proper position. Such an operation should be done quickly, though with all gentleness, in case of setting up an inflammation. A small hand is of great advantage to a shepherd. 2561. Much trouble is imposed on shepherds when the ewes will not take their own lambs. In every case of a ewe refusing to let her own lamb suck, the shepherd should particularly examine the state of the udder, and ascertain the cause of uneasiness; and, if it be inflammation, remedial measures must be used to reduce it, but if well the ewe must be put under discipline. 2562. The discipline consists of immediately putting her into the shed, and confining her to a spot by a short string tied above the fetlock joint of one of her fore legs, and fastened to a stob driven into the ground, or to the hurdle. As she endeavours to leave her lamb, the string pulls her foot off the ground, and while her attention is taken up struggling with the string, the lamb seizes the teat and sucks in the mean time. The stratagem often repeated, makes her take with the lamb. It is surprising how soon a lamb learns to steal a suck from the ewe; if it cannot approach by the flank, it will seize the teat from behind between the hind legs. When a ewe will allow but one of her twins to suck her, she should be held till both do it, and in a short time she will allow both. 2563. It is not surprising that one ewe should refuse to take the lamb of another; and yet it is necessary when a lamb is left an orphan, or happens to be a supernumerary, to mother it, as it is termed, upon another ewe. When a gimmer that has little milk has twins at a time when another ewe that has plenty of milk produces a single lamb, it is for the benefit of one of the ewes and two lambs, that the ewe which has plenty of milk should bring up two lambs; and the transference is easily accomplished while all the lambs. are still wet, and two of them are placed before the ewe at the same time; but when a ewe does not die till two or three days after she has lambed, it will be difficult to make another ewe that lambs a single lamb, at the time the other ewe dies, take the older lamb along with her own. usual plan is, to rub the body of the older lamb with the new dropped one, before the new lambed ewe has had an opportunity of recognising her own lamb, and to place both before her at the same time, and she may take them both without scruple; but the probability is, that she will reject the older one. She should then be put into a dark corner of the shed, and confined in it by a board placed across the corner, only giving her room to rise up and lie down, and to eat, but not to turn quickly round upon the stranger lamb to box it ; while rubbing itself against her wool, and sucking her against her inclination, it will acquire the odour of her own lamb, and The ingratiate itself in her favour. If she persist in refusing the lamb, the discipline of tying the leg must be resorted to. Another troublesome case is, when the lamb dies at birth and the ewe has plenty of milk, while another ewe has twins which she is unable to support. The expedient is to let the ewe smell her own new-born dead lamb, and then to strip the skin immediately off it, and sew it upon the body of one of the lambs belonging to the other ewe, and present the foster-lamb to her. It is possible that the dark corner will require to be used before a cordial reception be given to the foster-lamb. 2564. Should all the above expedients fail to mother the lambs upon the ewes and they may all fail, though with a skilful shepherd they seldom do-the lambs should be taken away and brought up as pets on cow's milk. 2565. A fat ewe has always a small lamb, though plump and lively, and she runs a great risk in lambing of inflammation in the passage of the womb. A lean ewe bears a lamb with large extremities, and thin and weak body. A very old ewe's lamb is both small and weak. A gimmer bears a small lamb, and not having sufficient milk to rear it, it continues small. A hogg's lamb is still smaller and weaker, and generally requires to be brought up as a pet. grass 2566. The best mode of managing ewes for rearing good lambs, is to keep them in fair condition until they have lambed, after which they should have the best the farm can afford. New grass always produces abundance of milk, and it is ready earlier than old. In case of snow covering the ground in spring, when the ewes are heavy in lamb, they should get a few turnips and plenty of hay-cloverhay if possible-until the ground is again clear; but in open weather in winter, there is nothing better for them than grass which had been kept rough for the purpose in autumn. While confined on the lambing-ground, the ewes should have turnips and hay to support them; before lambing and after lambing, nothing is better for them than cabbage or kale, and in lieu a little oil-cake will encourage the necessary discharges and purifi cation of the womb. New grass also operates medicinally on the system of the ewe. 2567. It is necessary to say a few words on the rearing of pet lambs. These consist of orphans or supernumeraries, and, in either case, are deserted creatures which would die were they not reared by hand. As a remarkable instance of lambs being obliged to be made pets from supernumerary births, I remember one season, in a small flock of 50 Leicester ewes, 48 of them had twins, and 2 trins. The two lambs which formed the trins were properly taken away to relieve the ewes, and brought up by hand as pets. When ewes die it is scarcely possible avoiding having pets, on account of the improbability of ewes lambing single lambs just in time to receive those which have become orphans. Pet lambs are supported on cow's milk, which they receive warm from the cows each time they are milked, and as much as they can drink. In the intervals of meals, in bad weather, they are kept under cover, but in good weather they are put into a grass paddock during the day, and under shelter at night until the nights become warm. They are fed by hand out of a small vessel, which should contain as much milk as is known each can drink. They are first taught to drink out of the vessel with the fingers like a calf (2276,) and as soon as they can hold a finger steady in the mouth, a tin tube, about 3 inches in length, and of the thickness of a goose quill, should be neatly and firmly covered with folds of linen, and used as a substitute for a teat, and with this they will easily drink their allowance of milk. A goose quill would answer the purpose, were it not that it is easily squeezed together by the mouth. When the same person feeds the lambs, who ought to be the dairy-maid, the lambs soon become attached to her, and will follow her everywhere; and to prevent them bleating in her absence, and annoying her during the day, an apron or a piece of cloth hung upon a stake or bush in the paddock, will content them and keep them together in quietness. 2568. It is a common practice with the shepherds of Leicester sheep, when they wish to catch a ewe to give a weakly twin lamb a suck, or to examine the state of her udder, to stoop down and run in upon her from behind and seize her by a hind leg. This is a safe mode of catching a sheep when dexterously done; but when it fails, by the captor not keeping himself out of view until he seizes the ewe, she will start and run off, and alarm the other ewes beside her and every alarm to a ewe, whether lambed or about to lamb, is injurious, and at any rate cannot do any good. In the circumstances, a crook does the thing quietly and securely. It consists of a round rod of iron, bent in the form shown in fig. 224, and terminating at one end in a knob, and at the other end in a Fig. 224. socket, which receives and is fixed to a wooden helve, 5 or 6 feet long, according to fancy. The hind leg is taken in at a, from behind the sheep; and as its narrow edge fills up the narrowest part beyond a, it has plenty of room to be free in the looped space in which the animal is secured, and its foot easily slipped through the loop. Some caution is required in using the crook, for should the sheep give a sudden start forward to get away, the moment it feels the crook touch its leg, it may forcibly draw the leg through the narrow part, and strike the fore edge of the bone with such violence against the bend of the loop as to cause the animal considerable pain, and even occasion lameness for some days. On quietly embracing the leg, at first from behind the ewe, the crook should be quickly drawn towards you, so as to bring the bend of the loop against the leg as high up as the hock, and to lift the foot off the ground, before the sheep is aware of the movement; and being thus secured at once, its struggles will cease the moment your hand seizes the leg. The crook is held in the figure to catch the near or left hind leg. THE SHEPHERD'S CROOK. 2569. When the male lambs, not to be kept as tups, attain the age of from 10 days to a month, they are castrated. Some breeders advocate castration in a day or two after birth, whilst others will not allow the operation to be performed until the lamb is one month old. My opinion is, that both these periods are extremes. A lamb of a day old cannot be confirmed in all the parts and functions of its body, and in many instances I question that the testicles can then be found. At a month old, on the other hand, the lamb may be so fat and the weather warm, that the castration may be followed by febrile action. I prefer the operation being performed from 10 to 15 days, when the lamb has attained some strength, and yet no part has had time to become rigid. 2570. Great caution is required in castrating lambs; it should not be done in rainy, cold, or frosty weather; nor should the lambs be heated by being driven before the operation. It is best performed early in the morning, in fresh weather, with a westerly breeze. The ewes and lambs should be driven gently to a corner of the field, not by the dog, whose duty is only to prevent a ewe breaking away. One assistant should catch the lambs, and another hold them while the shepherd operates. It is not easy to catch the leg of a lamb with a sheep's crook, their small active limbs easily escaping through the loop, but it may be effectually used in hooking the neck, when the captor rushes in upon the lamb and secures it. Where there is a bught or open shed in a field, the lambs and ewes may be driven loosely in and the lambs captured there. Hill lambs should be driven the night before they are castrated into a bught or enclosure, where they will be ready and cool for the operation in the morning. 2571. Castration is performed in this way: Let the assistant hold up the back of the body of the lamb against his left breast and shoulder, and with each hand raise a hind leg towards the body, securing them by the shank; while, to prevent farther struggling, a fore leg is held firmly in connexion with a hind one of the same side. The effect of this arrangement is to exhibit the scrotum to full view, as represented at a, in fig. 225. The shepherd with his left band then causes the testicles to make the point of the scrotum a smooth; and cutting through the integuments of the scrotum, with a knife in the right hand, first to one testicle and then the other, he pushes out both testicles into view with both his hands, and first seizes one with his teeth, and draws out the spermatic cord until it breaks, and then the other in the same manner, when the operation is finished. Fig. 225. THE MODE OF HOLDING LAMBS FOR CASTRATION. 2572. The old-fashioned mode of castrating lambs, was to cut off the point of the scrotum, and extract both testicles through the large opening caused by the amputation; but the extensive wound thus made took a considerable time to heal, whereas the simple incision now made almost always heals by the first intention. 2573. Advantage is taken of the opportunity to dock the tail, which is left from c, fig. 225, as long as to reach the meeting of the hams. In performing docking, the division should be made in a joint, otherwise the portion of the vertebra which has been cut through will have to be sloughed off before the wound can heal. The lamb, after being docked, is let down to the ground by the tail, which has the effect, it is said, of putting the parts right after the castration. Ewe lambs are also docked at this time, but they are not held up in this manner for the operation, being merely caught and held by the shepherd between his legs until it is done. In England, docking is performed at the third joint, which leaves a mere stump of a tail. The object of docking is to keep the sheep clean behind from filth and vermin; but as the tail is a protection against cold in winter, it should not be docked so short in Scotland as is done in England. Tup lambs are allowed to retain their full tails until a year old, in order to strengthen the back-bone. 2574. The opportunity is taken to mark the ears of lambs; and in the case of stock on hill farms, where it is not easy to gather the flock frequently, the operation is very properly performed now; but as Leicester lambs are not marked in the ear at this time, I shall defer describing that operation until its proper season in summer. 2575. The scrotum does not bleed in castration, but the tail often bleeds in docking for a long time in two minute and forcible streams, though usually the bleeding soon stems. Should it continue as long as to sicken the lamb, a small cord should be tied firmly round the end of the tail; but this must not be allowed to remain on above 24 hours, as the point of the tail would die by the stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and slough off. Be 2576. In some cases inflammation ensues, and the scrotum swells, and even suppurates, when the wound should be carefully examined, the matter discharged, and the wound soon heals. The advantage of performing the operation in the morning is, that the several cases may be observed during the day; and should the weather have changed for the worse towards the afternoon, the ewes, with the lambs that have just been cut, should be brought under shelter all night. sides the state of the weather, one cause of inflammation is the scratching of the wound of the scrotum by the points of the stubble amongst the new grass, and this irritation is most likely to be induced when the castration has been performed by cutting off the point of the scrotum. To avoid this source of irritation, the new-cut lambs should be put into a field of new grass, where the stubble has been mown short, or into a field of old grass, for a few days. The practice of applying turpentine to the incision on the scrotum gives unnecessary pain, and serves no good purpose. 2577. Sometimes one of the testicles does not descend into the scrotum, in which case the lamb becomes what is called a chaser, that is, one which con |