MANAGEMENT OF LAMBS.
While the lamb is tumbling about and attempting to rise—the ewe, meanwhile, licking it dry—it is well to be in no haste to interfere. A lamb that gets at the teat without help, and procures even a small quantity of milk, knows how to help itself afterward, and rarely perishes. If helped, it sometimes continues to expect it, and will do little for itself for two or three days. The same is true where lambs are fed from a spoon or bottle.
But if the lamb ceases to make efforts to rise—especially if the ewe has left off licking it while it is wet and chilly—it is time to render assistance. It is not advisable to throw the ewe down—as is frequently practised—in order to suckle the lamb; because instinct teaches the latter to point its nose upward in search of the teats. It is, therefore, doubly difficult to teach it to suck from the bag of the prostrate ewe; and when it is taught to do this, by being so suckled several times, it is awkward about finding the teat in the natural position, when it begins to stand and help itself. Carefully disengaging the ewe from her companions, with his crook—which useful article will be hereafter described—the assistant should place one hand before the neck and the other behind the buttocks of the ewe, and then, pressing her against his knees, he should hold her firmly and still, so that she will not be constantly crowding away from the shepherd, who should set the lamb on its feet, inducing it to stand, if possible; if not, supporting it on its feet by placing one hand under its body; put its mouth to the teat, and encourage it to suck by tickling it about the roots of the tail, flanks, etc., with a finger. The lamb, mistaking this last for the caresses of its dam, will redouble its efforts to suck. Sometimes it will manifest great dullness, and even apparent obstinacy, in refusing for a long time to attempt to assist itself, crowding backward, etc.; but the kind and gentle shepherd, who will not sink himself to the level of brute, by resenting the stupidity of a brute, will generally carry the point by perseverance. Sometimes milking a little into the lamb’s mouth, holding the latter close to the teat, will induce it to take hold.
If the ewe has no milk, the lamb should be fed, until the natural supply commences, with small quantities of the milk of a new-milch cow. This should be mixed, say half and half, with water, with enough molasses to give it the purgative effect of the first milk, gently warmed to the natural heat—not scalded and suffered to cool—and then fed through a bottle with a sponge in the opening of it, which the lamb should suck, if it can be induced so to do. If the milk is poured in its mouth from a spoon or bottle, it is frequently difficult, as before stated, to induce it to suck. Moreover, unless milk is poured into the mouth slowly and with care—no faster than the lamb can swallow—a speedy wheezing, the infallible precursor of death, will show that a portion of the fluid has been forced into the lungs. Lambs have been frequently killed in this way.
If a lamb becomes chilled, it should be wrapped in a woollen blanket, placed in a warm room, and given a little milk as soon as it will swallow. A trifle of pepper is sometimes placed in the milk, and with good effect, for the purpose of rousing the cold and torpid stomach into action. In New England, under such circumstances, the lamb is sometimes “baked,” as it is called—that is, put in a blanket in a moderately-heated oven, until warmth and animation are restored; others immerse it in tepid water, and subsequently rub it dry, which is said to be an excellent method where the lamb is nearly frozen. A good blanket however, a warm room, and sometimes, perhaps, a little gentle friction will generally suffice.
If a strong ewe, with a good bag of milk, chance to lose her lamb, she should be required to bring up one of some other ewe’s twins, or the lamb of some feeble or young ewe, having an inadequate supply of milk. Her own lamb should be skinned as soon as possible after death, and the skin sewed over the lamb which she is to foster. She will sometimes be a little suspicious for a day or two; and if so, she should be kept in a small pen with the lamb, and occasionally looked to. After she has taken well to it, the false skin may be removed in three or four days. If no lamb is placed on a ewe which lost her lamb, and which has a full bag of milk, the milk should be drawn from the bag once or twice, or garget may ensue; even if this is not the result, permanent indurations, or other results of inflammatory action, will take place, injuring the subsequent nursing properties of the animal. When milked, it is well to wash the bag for some time in cold water, since it checks the subsequent secretions of milk, as well as allays inflammation.
Sometimes a young ewe, though exhibiting sufficient fondness for her lamb, will not stand for it to suck; and in this case, if the lamb is not very strong and persevering, and particularly if the weather is cold, it soon grows weak, and perishes. The conduct of the dam, in such instances, is occasioned by inflammatory action about the bag or teats, and perhaps somewhat by the novelty of her position. In this case, the sheep should be caught and held until the lamb has exhausted her bag, and there will not often be any trouble afterward; though it may be well enough to keep them in a pen together until the fact is determined.
Such pens—necessary in a variety of cases other than those mentioned—need not exceed eight or ten feet square, and should be built of light materials, and fastened together at the corners, so that they can be readily moved by one man, or, at the most, two, from place to place, where they are wanted. Their position should be daily shifted, when sheep are in them, for cleanliness and fresh feed. Light pine poles laid up like a fence, and each nailed and pegged to the lower ones at the corners, or laid on, are quite serviceable. Two or three sides of a few of them should be wattled with twigs, and the tops partly covered, in order to shield feeble lambs from cold rains, piercing winds, and the like.
Young lambs are subject to what is commonly known as “pinning”—that is, their first excrements are so adhesive and tenacious that the orifice of the anus is closed, and subsequent evacuations prevented. The adhering matter, in such cases, should be entirely removed, and the part rubbed with a little dry clay, to prevent subsequent adhesion. Lambs will frequently perish from this cause, if not looked to for the first few days.
The ewes and their young ought to be divided into small flocks, and have a frequent change of pasture. Some careful shepherds adopt the plan of confining their lambs, allowing them to suck two or three times a day. By this method they suffer no fatigue, and thrive much faster. It is, however, troublesome as well as injurious, since the exercise is essential to the health and constitution of the lamb intended for rearing. It is admissible only when they are wanted for an early market; and with those who rear them for this purpose it is a common practice.