Few rules can be laid down with regard to the rearing and feeding of sheep that will admit of anything like general application. A great deal depends on the kind of sheep, and the nature of the pasture and the food.
Suppose the larger kind of sheep, and on arable ground. The ewes are generally ready to receive the ram at the beginning of October, and the duration of pregnancy is from about twenty-one to twenty three weeks, bringing the period of parturition to nearly the beginning of March, at which tams most of the lambs will be dropped. The ewes shotdd be fed rather better than usual a short time previous to the male being introduced. Ranis are fit to propagate their species in the autumn of the second year, and that is also the proper period for the impregnation of the ewes. The ewe is, after impregnation, suffered to graze on the usual pasture, being supplied, as occasion may require, with extra food. and especially in case of snow, until within five or six weeks of lambing, when turnips are given to her, and continued from that time until the spring of grass renders them no longer necessary. The turnips are laid out for the ewes in the grass fields in certain quantities each day, but by no means so many as they would consume if permitted to feed without restriction, as it is considered to be most important that they should not be too fat when the lambing season approaches. The hogs and the fattening sheep of the previous year, now one year and a half old, are put upon the turnips in October, or whenever the pastures cease to improve their condition. The turnips required for the cattle, or the ewe-flock, are then drawn off in alternate rows, In the proportion of one-half, one-third, or one-fourth, as the convenience of the situation, the goodness of the crop, or the quality of the land may dictate. The remainder are consumed on the ground by the other sheep.
As the period of parturition approaches, the attention of the shep herd should increase. There should be no dogging then, but the ewes should be driven to some sheltered inclosure, and there left ae much as possible undisturbed. Should abortion take place with regard to any of them, although it does not spread through the flock as in cattle, yet the ewe should be immediately removed to another inclosure, and small doses of Epsom salts with gentian and ginger administered to her, no great quantity of nutritive food being allowed.
The ewes should now be moved as near home as convenience will permit, in order that they may be under the immediate observation of the ]amber. The operation of &Ming, or the removal of the hair from
under the tail and around the udder, should be effected on every long woolled ewe, otherwise the lamb may be prevented from sucking by means of the dirt which often accumulates there, and the ]amber may not be able at all times to ascertain what ewes have actually lambed. The clatting before the approach of winter is a useless, cruel, and dangerous operation.
The period of lambing having actually commenced, the shepherd must be on the alert. The process of nature should be permitted quietly to take its course, unless the sufferings of the mother are unu sually great, or the progress of the labour has been arrested during several hours. Experience will teach the course to be pursued in that case. If any of the newly-dropped lambs arc weak, or scarcely able to stand, the shepherd must give them a little of the milk, which at these times he should always carry about him, or he must place them in some sheltered warm place ; in the course of a little while the young one will probably be able to join its darn. The operation of castration should be performed nine or ten days after the birth of the lamb.
Unless the pasture on which the ewes are placed is very good, it will be advisable to continue the use of the turnips. A moderate quantity may be given twice in the day, care being taken that the whole of one quantity shall be eaten before any more is placed before them. This is a better practice than hurdling off certain portions of the field for the sheep, unless the land is perfectly dry. A little hay will always be serviceable while the flock is fed on turnips. It corrects the occa sional watery quality of the turnips, and the sheep usually thrive better than if they are fed either on hay or turnips alone. Bran and oats, with oil-cake, have been recommended fur the ewes before wean ing time. but this is an expensive measure, and its cost can hardly be repaid either by the ewe or the lamb. By the end of March or the beginning of April the turnips are generally nearly consumed, and the farmer is occasionally a little puzzled to find sufficient food for his flock. He should have had some plots of rye to support them for awhile. Rye-grass and clover are very serviceable. Mangold wurzel and Swedish turnips that have been carefully stacked on dry straw will be most useful, for they will retain their nutritive quality until the flock can be conveniently supplied with other food.