Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-02-04

Il q" Let me tell you secret that mo,
herders keep to themselves. Suppose 20,
want to show a lamb at the fair. 70,
can tell pretty well which ewes will have
the best lambs. And you select II lami
that is large, strong, well formed and wei
bred. Now, you want to make this LIANT
grow very fast; he has been bred on pnr.
pose TO grow fast, and mature early. Bui
no lamb can grow fast unless he has
plenty 10 cat; other things being equal,
the more you can get him to eat and di.
Sest, the faster lie will grow. Now the
secret is this: Let him hqrc tho mothers.
The lamb has got his own mother. and
there is no danger of her forgetting him
The only point is to get some other eve to
take him, and let him suck. You take a
eve that has lost her lamb. Skin the
lamb, and sew the skin on Young Won
derful, and put him in pen with his fos-
ter mother Let him be pretty hungry, and
ne will soon empty the bag while yon hold
lhe eve. Let him Stay with his foster
mother all the time, except that three or
iour times day you carry him to his own
mother to empty her bag. As soon as he
IS through sucking carry him back. You
should have the ewes so far apart that the
lamb cannot hear his own mother bleat.
AS soon rs Young Wonderful has been
fairly adopted by the foster mother, put
her in pen adjoining the other eve, and
have hole between the two pens, that
the lamb can get through. Young Won
deriul will 60 from one mother to the
ether without exciting their jealousy. And
in few days, when the matter is firmly
established, the two ewes can be put in
the same pen, and byand-by they can be
turned out with the rest of the flock.
Then, if Young Wonderful is well bred,
healthy and vigorous, and inherits n strong
disposition to grow rapidly and put on fat,
he will be likely to 60 ahead of any lamb
the deacon may have TO show against Won
But in addition to having two mothers,
1t will be desirable to give him some sliced
mangels, cut up very fine, and with n
little oat meal or oil meal sprinkled on
them. And when he gets TO be two or
three months old, and the ewes do NOT
give as much milk as Young Wonderful
wants, he can easily be taught to drink
cows milk out of pail.
A farmer once bought some ewes
from my flock Of Coswold sheep. They
were in lamb when he bought them: and
the next fall he showed lamb at the fair
which was far larger and fatter than anv
mad to show against him, and he GOT The
hrst prize. This lamb had had all the
MIX ne could drink, and all the grain he
could eat. lie was a magnificent lamb.
put DO not think he proved to be any.
thing wonderful in the end"
If the gaining of prizes be the chief
object of raising lambs, then the method
described by the correspondent of Land
anu Home is all right, unless somebody
can find way to appropriate three sheep
to the raising of II single lamb.
We are free to say we don't like that
way OF doing business-what we want ia
way of raising stock which can be oen.
orally followed by farmers with profit.
Such course as described, without de.
scribing the way it is done, sets up a false
standard of excellence for the stock
raiser, and when he finds himself unable
to reach such results in legitimate way
by proper care and extra feed, he becomes
discouraged and Disguised with the ami
NAL he has on hand. when it may be the
animal is just as good as the other one
which took the prize - and as r part
of stock for breeding purposes, is really
better. There should be different
Standard of excellence for judging ami.
mails except for fat animals. and the ex.
cellence in the particular direction in
which the animal is bred. for milk. for
butter, for wool or mutton, should be
and the prize awarded on that
line.