This is the lamb wagon, which brings the ewe and lamb to the shed from
the pasture during the day. It is made of the same material as the
individual pens above described, placed upon a low running gear, with a
floor made of 1½-inch boards, with a 2 by 2-inch strip along each
side to firmly hold the pens from any lateral or side motion. There are
seven pens on each side, 14 in all. To each gate and over the top and
ends of the pens is tacked heavy canvas to exclude all rains and winds
from the newly born lambs while they are being hauled from pasture to
shed. Upon the range the ewe and lamb are sheltered during storms with a
small "sheep tepee" until the "Pullman" arrives, which insures continual
warmth for the lamb until he is placed in the shed. There is feed for
the ewe in sacks in each of the 14 pens. Indicating flags or rags are
hung on small nails on each gate to show the attendant at the shed, when
the wagon arrives, the character of each ewe, that he may intelligently
care for her and her lamb at once. The dimensions are: Length of floor,
14 feet; width of floor, 7 feet; length of panel, 6 feet 8 inches; width
of gate, 22 inches; height of pens, 3 feet. This allows each ewe a space
39 inches long and 22 inches wide. Such a wagon will cost complete about
fifty dollars. It will do the work for about 2,500 dropping ewes, when
they are not pastured much more than one mile from the lambing shed.
The attendants at the shed, after unloading the wagon and placing each
ewe in an individual pen, see that each lamb is suckled; also that the
ewe has plenty of good clean feed and water until she is ready to turn
out and mix with other ewes and lambs, according to the table of these
rules.
[Illustration]
It may be necessary to keep obstinate ewes, that will not claim their
lamb, penned for three or four days; it is not advisable to hold them
longer, as they will dry up unless you have good milk-producing feed.
Most ewes and their lambs can be numbered and turned out in small
bunches of say fifty head, after they have been in the individual pens
24 hours. They can thus be kept in separate yards around the main
lambing shed for three or more days. Here the attendant can watch them;
should any of the ewes refuse their lambs, they can be easily picked out
by their number and returned to the single pen. After the lambs are four
or five days old they can be placed in bands of three hundred and
removed to other parts of the pasture, where there is good shelter, or,
better, where there are other small sheds that will accommodate such
small bunches.
[Illustration]