The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1915-04-22

lldIHeu uuder.
All male lambs not intended for breed
ing purposes should be castrated. As a
rule at about the age of 3 months the
ram lambs begin to know that they are
males and get restless and not only fail
to gain, but actually lose some flesh put
on at an earlier period. AS a result ram
lambs come to market raised under the
same conditions. Castration is a simple
operation, involving little risk If done
with ordinary care and cleanliness. 1t
should be performed when the lamb is
from one to two weeks old. The opera
ton consists in cutting off the lower end
of the scrotum and drawing out the
testicles, together with the adhering
cords. A little disinfectant should be
poured into the holes from which the
t~esticles have been removed. Castration
should be done in the morning Of a bright
day.
Docking is also neglect common to
sheep farmers. Failure to dock causes
a loss of from rs to SO cents per hun
dred pounds when the lambs are sold, de-
pending on the amount of dirt collected.
Tails are unnecessary a%ppendages IN the
sheep, and what flow of blood goes to
nourish the useless tail no doubt would
add to the growth of the rest of the body.
There are several ways Of docking lambs;
namely, chopping off the tails with a
mallet and chisel, cutting off with a good
sharp knife, or removing with hot pinch
ers. In any case the tail should be re-
moved so as to leave a stub or dock of
one or one and one-half inches. This op-
Grafton should~be performed on eve lambs
at one to two weeks of age, and with ram
lambs it should follow from five to seven
dave oetoc noctro4irn IN loroa rorohac
both castration and docking are performed
at once, to save time, but on the smaller
farms better results are obtained where
they are done separately. The loss of
castration and docking should not be
more than one lamb in 500.
Growing the Lamb. =.
In order to get a good, cheap lamb in
Western Oregon they must be grown in
the months of March. April, May and
June. These are the months during
which green feeds are most abundant. OF
these months April and May are the best.
The more growth that can be put on dur
ing these two months the better the
lambs, and the cheaper the ultimate cost.
To get good results on the general farm
in Western Oregon, the lambs must be
grown on some pasture, such as vetch
and oats, vetch and rye, clover, rape or
rape and clover. 1t will be necessary to
have several fields for the lambs in order
to get the best gains, and in order that
each kind of pasture may be utilized in
its proper season.
1t is also especially necessary to have
fresh pastures, on which to finish the
lambs. Often we find that lambs do well
until about ready for the market, then
pastures begin to fail, the lambs which
were so nearly done begin to go back
ward, and the first thing we know the dry
season has come on and we cannot get
our lambs ready for market until Fall, by
which time they are too coarse and heavy
to bring the best price, and have cost us
more money than they are worth. 1t is,
therefore, essential that the ewes and
their lambs be supplied with the most
liberal pasture through the growing sea-
son.
Spring lambs should be marketed when
they get fat. This will ordinarily be at
a weight somewhere between SO and so
pounds. Perhaps about 60 ponds is the
proper market weight. There should be
no great difficulty in getting a lamb in
good market condition by the time he
weighs 60 pounds. Spring lambs in the
Willamette Valley are usually shipped in
carload lots to the stockyards in Port
land. The lambs are young and tender
and great care must be taken to see that
they get the least possible rough treat
ment on their journey. These lambs are
not weaned but are taken directly from
their mothers to the market.
Drying the Ewes.
After the lambs are shipped to the mar
ket the ewes should at once be turned
into poorer pasture. Such dry feed will
aid very much in drying up their milk
flow and preventing spoiled udders. For
t~unately the requirement of the ewes at
this time fit in exactly with the crop con-
ditions of the Western Oregon farm. The
lambs go to market at a time when the
fields are getting dry, The clover, vetch.
and rape, which was so good earlier in
the season becomes woody and there is
really no good feed available. The ewes,
therefore, should be turned out on the
dry hill pastures, or on the meadows after
the hay is cut, or in the stubble fields.
In this way they will not only get the
feed which is best for them, but they will