The Portland daily press., 1876-07-18
Care of Sheep during the Summer Months

A flock of sheep require but little care DUR
ing the summer months, except that they
have plenty of good feed and salt, and
are watched to see that none of them get
sick or diseased. The principal work to be
done in this season is to raise suitable
quantity of roots, &C., and to cut in the
proper season, and well cure and store the
necessary supply of hay and grain. Roots,
apples and pumpkins are necessary to some
extent in the winter, not only on account of
the nourishment they contain but to supply
the lack of green feed and to keep the sheep
in a healthy condition.
The cutting of the hay in proper season
and well curing and storing the same, is one
of the great essential points in sheep hus-
bandry. If, from any cause, we fail to do
this, our sheep the next spring are usually
poor and weak, and we have bad luck in
raising lambs, the sole cause of which is,
that the sheep during the winter have been
eating poor hay, and vainly endeavoring to
obtain from it the necessary amount of nour-
ishment which the hay did not contain.
Coarse and rank timothy makes fair sheep
hay if it is cut few days before it begins to
blossom and is well cured. Nearly all kinds
of low land and swamp hay is good sheep
hay if cut in serson and well cured. Sheep
prefer variety of good hay instead of being
onfined to one kind only.
Lambs should be weaned when they are
four months old, and turned into good feed.
If they are fed daily, in addition to good
grass and hay, one pint of oats and shorts
apiece until they are turned out to grass the
next spring.. they will have good start
toward making sheep with good constitu-
tions. 1 believe that: if we could raise
sheep with good constitutions, we must sup
ply them literally during their growth with
that kind of food that will furnish them with
the necessary amount of bone and muscle.
Sheep and lambs in particular, should he
housed during the cold storms in the fall and
be fed with hay, which they should learn to
eat before they are entirely deprived of grass.
All kinds of sheep, and breeding ewes in par
ticular, should come to the barn in good con-
dition in the fall. This is necessary in order
that they may be able to well develop their
lambs. All kinds of sheep should be allowed
to run out upon the ground daily in the late
fall and early winter as long as the ground is
bare. This is necessary for their exercise
which promotes health, strength and vigor.
A reasonable amount of exercise Unnecessary
for sheep during the entire winter and spring.
Sulphur and ashes should be fed to sheen
with their salt during the winter. Sulphur
promotes health and is offensive to to vermin
Ashes are also essential for breeding ewes
presume some of you have seen lambs that
when first dropped, were strong, and their
dams gave good quantity of milk, yet in
few days the lambs would begin to droop
and finally die. If you were to open the
stomach of such lambs, in some cases you
would find 1t packed with hard curd which
was the cause of their death. The remedy
for this is to feed the breeding ewes with
some kind of mild alkali like ashes for
some time previous to their lambs being
dropped.
Sheep should be turned out upon the
ground daily. as soon as there spot bare
that is large enough for them to stand upon,
for the air in their pens and stables is gen.
orally impure, and no amount of good feed
will supply the lack Of good air and exercise.
There are various diseases which sheep and
lambs sometimes have, and there are troubles
to encounter in breeding sheep. There is
cause for all of these. 1t should be one of
the studies OF the sheep breeder to learn
what those causes are, and avoid them;
we do that we will have good luck in sheep
husbandry.-Cor. N. T. Farmer.