The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-09-03
Live Stock.
SHEEP IN THE SOUTH.
XII

"A Bunch for Mutton in summer-Easiest
of all Fresh Meat to Keep-A Year Of Sheep
Business Illustrated Southland Uniquely
Adapted to Sheep.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
Turn the ewes from which the
lambs have been taken on dry pas
ture, or very short one; or in fact as
we'll put them on dry feed in the
barn lot for two or three days, watch
ing them closely, draw the milk
from any that seem to need it, being
very careful not to let the udder of
any one ulcerate or cake, which is
not at all likely if previous precau-
ton is followed. Should the udder
of any one be ruined, mark that eve
for mutton and not allow her to have
another lamb.
AS soon as they are dry give them
abundance of pasture. If they are
to be kept and bred another year,
the, purpose should not be to load
them with fat, but to have BEEN en-
tirely recovered from the suckling
period and in good health, in good
strength and SPIRITS and gaining in
flesh by the time they are to be
mated with the ram.
The flock of lambs from the time
they are dropped until they are
year old should ever be in the care
full shepherds mind as the Baby
Flock and receive his special atten-
tion.
The reader will bear with me here
while refer TO one of tbe most beau
tiful spiritual pictures that was ever
delineated and brought before the
mind of man in all history.
Jesus, that humble One, spoke of
himself as being the shepherd of the
sheep, and said, ''Suffer little chill
dren to come unto me, for of such is
the kingdom of Heaven Let us
pause far moment and behold this
picture of him taking his seat and
saying those words to his hearers, to
the disciples, to his ministers and
teachers of Divinity then, and down
through all time, while he took in
his arms the infant, and laid his
hands upon the children and blessed
them and again He said, ''Feed my
lambs. -
What was the emblem used by this
author in drawing this spiritual pic
ture? It was the shepherd and the
lambs.
The human shepherd of the ami
NAL flock here may we'll strive to
have the emblem resemble the pic
ture more and more and as he looks
on, and becomes imbued with the
sentiments of that picture, he will
tenderly care for the lambs, frs5, be-
cause he will realize that all the ele
ments of the successful future flock
is in them for development, and that
he is largely responsible for their
life, their growth, their comfort and
prosperity, and that after this, and
and secondly, as surely as the day
follows the night to him the mate
rial profits of sheep husbandry will
follow.
A well-fed, growthy lamb will
loose it's two front lamb teeth before
it is quite year old, and two per-
manent incisors will grow in. Be-
fore the end of the second year two
more incisors will shove out two
more, one at each side Of two first.
Before the end of the third year two
more will appear, and before the, end
of the fourth year, two more perme-
nent incisors, making eight in all,
will have taken the place of the two
last lamb incisors. The back or
double teeth are called molars.
In sheep parlance among shep-
herds and sheep men, a lamb is prop
erly called lamb until it is one year
old, then it is called yearling until
it is two years old, and two year
old until it is three years old, and a
three-year-old until it is four years
old, and the four -year-old note
among traders some times hangs on
till the sheep is six and seven. Com
monty the age is determined by the
teeth; two, four, six and eight teeth
indicating respectively, one, two,
three and four years old but actually
it will be found that highly-fed and
rapidly-matured young sheep of any