Shearing should be done after lambing, usually in late spring or early summer. If lambing time is late, the shearing may be done before the lambs arrive. Tie up the fleeces separately, first sorting out dung locks and tags.
After lambing, the individual ewes should be carefully watched to see that they have plenty of milk and are in good condition. They should be kept in pens for about three days, when they may be permitted to run with the flock. Feed lightly for two or three days, then heavily to stimulate the milk flow so lambs will be well-nourished. They may profitably receive one to two pounds of grain per day during the nursing period.
Inferior ewes should be marketed as rapidly as they are identified. Get rid of the barren ones, producers of poor lambs, poor milkers, light shearers.
Sheep must be protected against blood-thirsty dogs and external and internal parasites. In many sections sheep growers have united to fight sheep-killing dogs and good results have been secured. United action against a common enemy is best, as public sentiment may thus be aroused.
Because of their thick fleeces and helplessness, sheep suffer greatly from the attacks of ticks, lice and other parasites. Ticks are particularly injurious. They annoy and weaken the adult animals, torture the lambs and check their growth. The result is always a money loss to the sheep owner.
Fortunately it is a simple matter to exterminate the ticks and lice and overcome the ordinary skin diseases of sheep. Merely dip the sheep in a solution of Pratts Disinfectant. It is non-poisonous, inexpensive—does the work!
MERINO RAM
July and August is the popular time for dipping, but the work can be done as soon after shearing as the shear cuts heal. Two dippings are necessary, about twenty-four days apart. The first treatment may not kill all the eggs, but the second will kill the young ticks, thus completing the job. For successful results, it is necessary to use a dipping tank or vat large enough to hold sufficient of the solution to immerse and thoroughly saturate each animal.
Intestinal parasites, of which the stomach worm is perhaps the most dreaded, cause great loss to sheep owners. These worms live in the fourth stomach. They are easily identified, being from one-half to one and a quarter inches long, marked with a red stripe. Their eggs are found in the droppings of the sheep, so infection is secured in the pasture.