The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-08-13
Look to the Lambs.

LOOK TO the LamDSs
Many dollar that would otherwise
come to the fockowner is lost through
his failure to appreciate the fact that
maximum profit is secured through the
quality and condition of his sheep, rather
than through their numbers. Quality
and condition are the indispensable
requisites to real success. The first OF
these is secured through breeding, the
second through subsequent attention.
"Blood will tel;" but its record will
never be satisfactory unless the breeders
art is supplemented by the feeders lib
erality. The well-bred lamb must be a
well-fed lamb, or the breeders ideal will
never be attained.
Keep the lambs thriving. During the
hot and dry summer days, extra atten-
ton will be necessary to insure this, but
compensation therefor will surely come.
Where the young and tender animal Is
required to Withstand privation and
hardship, diminished size and impaired
vigor will follow, to the embarrassment
of every subsequent effort at maximum
results. Mistakes in early management
may be avoided; they cannot be wholly
corrected in the life of the animal.
Scanty pasturage must be pieced out
from other sources; and artificial food
should be supplied before the advancing
season robs the pasture of its highest
nourishment.
Experienced shepherds are sometimes
asked for devices by which sucking
lambs can be fed ration of grain, bran
or meal, aside from what is given their
dams. Devices of this characteristic
as a small pen inside the usual resting
place, with openings through which the
lambs can pass, but not large enough to
admit the grown animals-will readily
suggest themselves under such circum-
stances as warrant this treatment. The
strongest apology for such arrangement
is found in the exemption from crowG-
ing, which allows the smaller animals TO
get their proper allowance. The factis,
the mothers can profitably be allowed
as liberal treatment as their offspring.
The effect of little attention to the
dam, while on pasture, will be quiteWs
apparent in her lamb as upon herself;
and without this regard to her condi-
ton, much of effort for lamb thrift vii!
be vain.
All that has been heretofore said in
behalf of comfortable surroundings for
the flock receives emphasis in its appli-
cation to the lambs. The idea that pri-
walton and harsh treatment tougher the
young animals is delusion. A per-
feet physique and vigorous constitu-
ton are not to be secured by exposure
to extremes of heat and cold, and by
subsection to hunger and thirst. The
perfectly developed and healthy sheep
can withstand these to almost incredible
extremes; but its capabilities in such
direction do not result therefrom. Swell
tering beneath summer sun, or SILVER
ing before a wintry blast, developes
neither health nor strength. Forced
subsistence on scanty pasturage may
test constitutional hardness, but does
not create or foster such characteristic.
Many owners fall into the error of Civ
ing the lamb flock the same treatment
as is bestowed upon those animals of
more advanced accommodating the
fact that what requires development in
the one instance needs but to be main
Gained in the other. AS the sturdy tree,
notwithstanding its exposure at the
roadside, could once have been crushed
by a fawn's footprint, SO is there to be
found in the young sleeps life a time
when harm will result from incidents
which would in nowise effect the ma
tured animal-a fact which finds I'M
pleasant emphasis in the experience of
the most careful shepherd.
What with docking, and marking,
and weaving, and the other rough treat
ment inseparable from lambhood, the
little ones of the flock have rough
time, be the supervision of their owners
ever SO thoughtful and thorough. When
these trials are reduced to the minimum,
and all the avenues to thrift and COM
fort are opened wide before them, then
it is, and only then, that the reasonable
estimates of the owner may be realized,
and, under exceptional conditions,
sometimes Xceeded.-NGtional Live
Stock Journal.