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SPRING LAMBS.

Thesis orf
WARREN HH. GOSS,

WeETreT ta,

for the degreeoof

MASTER OF AGRICULTURE.
JHESIS

 
SPRING LAMB S&.

The young of many of our domestic animals are exten-
sively used as an article of food. Veal, Roast Pig,
Sping Chickens and Spring Lambs form each in them-
selves a special business and the producer wi10 san
place them on the market, in prime condition, and
the earliest in the season, is usually the most
successful. A lamb that would weigh sixty pounds
at the age of two months would command the highest
market price, while one that only weighed sixty
pounds at six months of age, would be of little
value, even though it cost more to produce it.

The natural season for sheep to produce their
young in this clinate is in the spring: heoe to
produce marketable lanbs in winter, and early spring
conditions mist be established, under which lambs
will be produced, am thrive, in winter. The es-
sential points in these conditions are the right
sort of sheep, suitable feed, and, above all,
proper care.

The selection of suitable ewes is of first

importance as the lamb needs all the vigor that

96429
 

 
it can inherit, besides plenty of substantial nour-
ishment after it is dropped. Sheep that are large
and reach maturity at an early age, are the most
desirable, therefore the ewes should be seleoted
from the coarse or medium wooled breeds. Ewes
having a strain of merino blood, are preferable to
full blood coarse wools, as they are less liable

to bear twins, and twin lambs are not desirable
where rapid growth is important.

The Ram should invariably be selected fron
the medium or coarse wooled breeds, and should be
of good vigor, and fully maturec. The character
of the lamb is determined largely by the ram used.
Of the various breeds, the Hampshire, Dorsetshires,
Shropshire are probably the best, and in the order
named; and as the Hampshire has coal black head and
legs, they are especially desirable when well marked
lanbs are demanded. The market should be stud-
ied and a ram selected accordingly.

Having selected suitable sheep the next con-
sideration is to so mate them that the lambs will
be dropped at the proper season.

The period of gestation is about twenty weeks;

hence 1f we wish December lambs the sheep must be

mated in July. 0 do this the lambs mist be
weaned early in the preceding spring, and the eves
rade to gain in flesh. By so doing the ewes will
mate earlier than on the Previous year. By repeat-
ing this process, weaning the lambs earlier each
year the mating season oan be ohanged to suit, in
most cases. Stinting the ewes, and following with
high feeding is also an aid in this direotion.
Sheep seem to mate best when the weather is cool,
and advantage can often be taken of this face to
produce the desired result. Turning the rams in
for short periods only, either at night or in the
morning, is good practice.

During summer and autumm the ewes should be

cool
kept in good pasture, and as the weather approach—

es they will gain in flesh if in normal health
and vigor, and by the time winter feeding begins,
they should be in suitable flesh to go into win-
ter quarters.

Sheep in pastitre should have a shed under
which they can go at will. It serves as a protec-
tion from storms, flies, and the scorching rays of
the summer sun. If it is made quite dark it is
an additional protection from flies, and if the
Walls are thick it is cooler. A straw shed, all

points considered, is probably the best, when the

pasture is not adjacent to the sheep barn.
A winter sheep barn, in which to raise iacbs,
must be light, well ventilated, and have some
means of controling the temperature within cer-
tain linits. Sheep enjoy an abundance of fresh
air, and they seem to thrive best in a cool place,
if the temperatire is Kept oonstant.

The walls of the sheep barn should be reason-
ably tight, with a goodly number of windows and
doors thal can be opened and closed readily.

The temperature of the barn should be kept as

near that of the open air as possible, as long as
it is above twenty degrees Fahrenheit; when it goes
below this point, the openings should be closed
and the barns kept as near this temperature as
possible. The sheep and lambs thrive well when it
is mich colder than this if the temperature can be
reduced gradually, and then kept oconstant; but in
this olimate the low temperatures often come sud-
denly amd last but a short time; so it is best not
to try to acoustom the sheep to them. Sudden
changes effect sheep very quickly. A change of
thirty degrees, either wp or down, will @ften
throw them “off their feed" for several days; hence
the necessity of keeping the sheep barns of as near-
ly even termmerature as possible.

The internal arrangement of the sheep barn
can be varied somewhat, to suit the taste. The
things to be considered are convenience in feeding,
comfort for the sheep and a system that will cause
as little waste of feed as possible. Convenient

to each pen there should be a space set apart, into
which the ewes cannot go, but to whioh the larbs
can have free access. In this space should be
arranged feed troughs, for feeding the lambs sev-
arately.

The sheep barns should be put in good condi-
tion, before severe weather sets in in the autum,
so that with the first appearance of cold storms,
the sheep may be properly housed.

When winter sets in the sheep should be sorted,
putting sheep of equal size and condition together.
They should then be nut into the pens, allowing
about twenty to each pen. They should then be ex-
amined for ticks and disease, and if either is
found, the proper remedy should be apviied.

Eaoh pen in the sheep barn should be con
rneoted with a yard, into which the sheep should
have free access in the daytime, when the weather
is not stormy or too cold.

When the lambs are a few days old, they with
their dams should be allowed the same privilege.

The fresh air and exercise seem to be petter for
them than close confinement.

Sheep,as a rule,are good feeders, and will eat
most kinds of food, if fed proverly; but for ewes
with lambs there is probably no dry fodder equal
to clover hay. They eat it readily and it arpears
to keep them in tne best ondition of azy one kind
of feed. This with a small grain ration is all
that is usually required to keep them in prine con-
dition, until the lambs are dropped. More succu-
lent food, as ensilage or roots, should then be
fed, to increase the flow of milk. Oorn stover
may be fed to the ewes as part of their ration
with good results, or a ration of bean straw oc-
casionally will not injure them; but timothy hay
should be avoiced if possible. It produces in-
digestion from the effect of which the ewes some-
times die.

Qmain for the ewes should consist of oats and
coorn, fed separately, amd whole, and in sufficient
qiantities to keep them in good flesh. An occa-
sional feed of 011 meal with the other grain is of
value in keeping them in a thriving condition.

Sheep do best when fed often. Coarse feed

should be given at least three tires dailv, and

 

 

 
grain twice. Little and often should be the rule.

A supply of pure water should be kept where
the sheep can get it at pleasure, and the water
troughs should be so arranged that a lanb would
not be liable to fall in amd be drowned.

Salt should be fed to the sheep often. A
good arrangement is to have a chunk of rock salt
fastened in each per:, allowing the sheep free ac-
cess to it. A mixture oonsisting of three pounds
of salt and two of sulylmm, fed each fortnight
to every fifty sheep tends to keep them healthy,
and drives away tioks also.

The season at which the lambs are dropped is
always a busy one for the shepherd. The period
of gestation in the sheep is somewhat variable,
ranging from eighteen weeks to twenty-one or more, As
the season approaches for the lambs to be dropped, _
the attendant should be on the alert to oare for
the first that make their appearance.

If the ewes have been properly selected and
cared for and suitable rams used, little trouble
will be experienced but the ewes should be watched
closely and as the lanbs are dropped, they with
their dams should be separated from the flock and

pains taken to know that the lamb nurses. If the

 
lamb is strong and the ewe furnishes sufficient
milk no further special care is needed; but occa-
sionally a lamb is found that appears weak; in this
case the ewe should be caught and the lamb held in
such a position that it can nurse. It is good prac-
tice to examine the ewe's nipples and remove the
obstruction which is often found at the end so that
the milk may flow freely, else a weak lanb night
not be able to start it. If a young lamb becomes
chilled, a little milk with a few drops of spirits
added and fed to it will usually have the desired
effect. Occasionally a ewe is found that cannot
deliver the lamb; in this case the attendant can
usually deliver it by the use of his hands, and

a stout wire loop. It sometimes occurs that a ewe
refuses to own her lamb, but if she is confined in
@ small close pen with it, for a day or two, she
will usually come to own it. In this way a ewe
that has lost her lanb may often be made to own
another if desirable. When a ewe is found that is
not a good milker, or that from ary cause is found
to be undesirable, she should be marked, and put

to some other use the next season.

The raising of lambs on cow's nilk is not
usually attended with mxx very satisfactory result-
The cow's milk is not so rich as that of the
ewe, and it is difficult to prodvce sufficient
growth with it; besides it is apt to impair the
larbs' digestion and often causes them to die.

Lambs are subject to several ailments,
anong which are paralysis, from crowding too fast,
and indigestion from eating too mich tinothy hay,
or similar feed, but treatment is difficult and
unsatisfactory. The best way,t0 prevent it as muon
as possible by suitable feed and care.

When the lambs are a week old, they will be-
gin to eat both hay, and grain, and they should be
allowed to eat with the ewes at pleasure. In
addition they should be fed separately, lightly at
first, but with a constantly increasing ration,
until they may be allowed all they will eat. Then
they should be fed and as often as the ewes are.
The feed should consist of corn, oats and oil meal
ground coarse or, simply cracked. The lambs eat
it readily and thrive well on it. The amount of
each oan be varied as oirownstances seem to dictate.

When the conditions are favorable the lambs
will gain very rapidly, often weighing fifty pounds

when they are two months old.

 

 
The lambs are affected by the same influences
as the sheep, and if the changes of temperature
are rapid, or the air dam, these rapid gains can-
not be attained; but a gain of five pounds a week
can reasonably be expected, with good tianarement.

There is a period in the growth of lanbs,
wnen they begin to change to sheep, when this -.
change begins they will gain in stature, but will
lose in flesh. This ohange begins usually when
the lambs weigh betveen fifty and seventy pounds,
and they should be sent to market, before they ar-
rive at this stage of their growth. Should any >
of the lambs fail to attain suitable size for the
spring market, the extra feed and care given then,
does not appear to react on them later, for when
turned on the pasture, and the srain taken from
them, they will contime to grow, and will develop
into as good sheep as they would had they not been
fed so mich grain.

Sheep are timid anirals, and while they are
Gocile under careful management, they sare easily
excited by rough usage, or by persons to whom they
are not accustomed. Care should be exercised,

therefore to have them cared for by the same person
as much as possible, as the more quiet they are

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
kept the better will be the results.

The raising of spring laxnbs requires an apt-
itude for the business, on the part of the flock-
master; it also requires experience, and good
judgment; but when the art is fully acquired, it

pecomes a pleasant and profitable occupation.
CHIGAN STATE UI

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