[Illustration: EWE AND LAMBS.]
The ewe goes with young about five months, varying from one hundred and
forty-five to one hundred and sixty-two days. Pregnant ewes require the
same food as at all other times. Until two or three weeks preceding
lambing, it is only necessary that they, like other store-sheep, be kept
in good, plump, ordinary condition; nor are any separate arrangements
necessary for them after that period, in a climate where they obtain
sufficient succulent food to provide for a proper secretion of milk. In
backward seasons in the North, where the grass does not start prior to
the lambing-time, careful farmers feed their ewes on chopped roots, or
roots mixed with oat and pea-meal, which is excellent economy. Caution
is, however, necessary to prevent injury or abortion, which is often
the result of excessive fat, feebleness, or disease. The first may be
remedied by blood-letting and spare diet; and both the last by restored
health and generous food. Sudden frights, as from dogs or strange
objects; long or severe journeys, great exertions, unwholesome food,
blows in the region of the f[oe]tus, and some other causes, produce
abortion.
Lambs are usually dropped, in the North, from the first to the fifteenth
of May; in the South, they can safely come earlier. It is not expedient
to have them dropped when the weather is cold or boisterous, as they
require too much care; but the sooner the better, after the weather has
become mild, and the herbage has started sufficiently to give the ewes
that green food which is required to produce a plentiful secretion of
milk. It is customary, in the North, to have fields of clover, or the
earliest grasses, reserved for the early spring-feed of the
breeding-ewes; and, if these can be contiguous to their stables, it is a
great convenience--for the ewes should be confined in the latter, on
cold and stormy nights, during the lambing season.
If the weather be warm and pleasant, and the nights moderately warm, it
is better to have the lambing take place in the pasture; since sheep are
then more disposed to own their lambs, and take kindly to them, than in
the confusion of a small inclosure. In the latter, sheep, unless
particularly docile, crowd from one side to another when any one enters,
running over young lambs, pressing them severely, etc.; ewes become
separated from their lambs, and then run violently round from one to
another, jostling and knocking them about; young and timid ewes, when so
separated, will frequently neglect their lambs for an hour or more
before they will again approach them, while, if the weather is severely
cold, the lamb, if it has never sucked, is in danger of perishing.
Lambs, too, when first dropped in a _dirty_ inclosure, tumble about, in
their first efforts to rise, and the membrane which adheres to them
becomes smeared with dirt and dung; and the ewe's refusing to lick them
dry much increases the hazard of freezing.
In cold storms, however, and in sudden and severe weather, all this must
be encountered; and, therefore, every shepherd should teach his sheep
docility. It requires but a very moderately cold night to destroy the
new-born Saxon lamb, which--the pure blood--is dropped nearly as naked
as a child. During a severely cold period, of several days continuance,
it is almost impossible to rear them, even in the best shelter. The
Merino, South-Down, and some other breeds, will endure a greater degree
of cold with impunity. Where inclosures are used for yeaning, they
should be kept clean by frequent litterings of straw--not enough,
however, to be thrown on at any one time, to embarrass the lamb about
rising.
The predisposing symptoms of lambing are, enlargement and reddening of
the parts under the tail, and drooping of the flanks. The more immediate
are, when the ewe stretches herself frequently; separating herself from
her companions; exhibiting restlessness by not remaining in one place
for any length of time; lying down and rising up again, as if
dissatisfied with the place; pawing the ground with a forefoot;
bleating, as if in quest of a lamb; and appearing fond of the lambs of
other ewes. In a very few hours, or even shorter time after the
exhibition of these symptoms, the immediate symptom of lambing is the
expulsion of the bag of water from the _vagina_. When this is observed,
the ewe should be narrowly watched, for the pains of labor may be
expected to come on immediately. When these are felt by her, the ewe
presses or forces with earnestness, changing one place or position for
another, as if desirous of relief.
The ewe does not often require mechanical assistance in parturition. Her
labors will sometimes be prolonged for three or four hours, and her loud
moanings will evince the extent of her pain. Sometimes she will go about
several hours, and even resume her grazing, with the fore-feet and nose
of the lamb protruding at the mouth of the _vagina_. If let alone,
however, Nature will generally relieve her. In case of a false
parturition of the f[oe]tus--which is comparatively rare--the shepherd
may apply his thumb and finger, after oiling, to push back the lamb, and
assist in gently turning it till the nose and fore-feet appear. Where
feebleness in expelling the f[oe]tus exists, only the slightest aid
should be rendered, and that to help the throes of the dam. The
objection to interfering--except as a last resort--is, that the ewe is
frightened when caught, and her efforts to expel the lamb cease. When
aided, in any case, the gentlest force should be applied, and only in
conjunction with the efforts of the ewe. The clearing, or _placenta_,
generally drops from the ewe in the course of a very short time--in many
cases, within a few minutes--after lambing. It should be carried away,
and not allowed to lie upon the lambing-pound.
Common kale, or curly-greens, is excellent food for ewes that have
lambed, as its nutritive matter, being mucilaginous, is wholly soluble
in water, and beneficial in encouraging the necessary discharges of the
ewe at the time of lambing. In these respects, it is a better food than
Swedish turnips--upon which sheep are sometimes fed--which become rather
too fibrous and astringent, in spring, for the secretion of milk. In the
absence of kale or cabbage, a little oil-cake will aid the discharges
and purify the body. New grass also operates medicinally upon the
system.