Lambs 4 to 6 days old (youngest must be 4 days old), 750 to the band.
Lambs 8 to 12 days old (youngest must be 8 days old), 1,500 to the band.
These tables should be considered well any time you do any mixing to make up herds. Where you have good feed and water, they will prove very successful. However, as ewes can and will suckle their lambs more readily while in small bands, the development of the lamb will be much more rapid where you are not compelled to bunch them too soon. Let these lamb bunches remain quiet as much as you possibly can. If your feed is poor around the water and the ewes have to leave their lambs to find feed, do not mix so soon nor so many. It may be advisable to move the droppers along a little faster, and by so doing you will leave more feed behind for the ewes with lambs.
[DOCKING OR TRIMMING LAMBS.]
Lambs should be docked when from six to twelve days old, when convenient in bands of not more than 700. For several reasons it is best to trim them on a cool day before they move around much in the morning. Avoid trimming in the heat of the day. Docking lambs in old corrals is dangerous, because it is unsanitary—many lambs are likely to die if left standing in old corrals after being cut at docking time. Turn each lamb over the fence and out to pasture as you dock it and you will avoid this trouble. When you can so arrange, it is best to leave these trimmed bunches where they are the balance of the day. At least do not overheat them by rushing them around, either before or after trimming. Let them rest a while.
We have used a knife in tailing lambs for years, but find they become a few pounds heavier during the summer season when seared, so advise the use of searing tongs to do the tailing. Keep these tongs red hot, so they will sear and stop all blood. To sear lambs, the docking corral is arranged the same as when you dock with the knife. You simply have an extra man, who places a stove or builds a fire to the right of the person doing the ear-marking and castrating. In this fire or stove the tongs are kept hot, and as the party doing the trimming passes the lamb to the right—the catcher still holding it—along the cutting board, this extra man has the tongs ready to part the tails. One heating of the tongs will sear and part the tails of four or five lambs. You should, however, have at least two or three pairs of these tongs. They are sold at Chicago.
If, after a few days, two or three of your largest lambs become sick, bleed them a little by cutting them under the tail stub. Use a solution of 100 parts water to one part creosote sheep dip, or the same solution of carbolic acid, as a wash to swab wether lambs. This will disinfect all cuts and keep flies from them. You will also save many lambs that have been snagged, dog or coyote bitten, by disinfecting them at once, or within a few hours, with either of these solutions. In castrating young lambs, cut the scrotum or sack off about one-half inch from end, then pinch tight above the testicles and draw them. Part the tails at about the lower end of skin on inside of tail. At this time herd-mark each full band of ewes and their lambs distinctly with a separate mark, so they can be parted in case they mix with another band during the summer season.
[PULLING LAMBS—EVERSION OF WOMB.]
In pulling lambs from ewes, try to attend to such ewes before the lamb is dead. Get the legs out first; pull slowly and be careful not to jerk—you may pull the lamb bed out of the ewe if you do. Should you do this, or should you find a ewe with her womb cast, it can be replaced by raising her hind parts and slowly forcing the womb back, inserting the parts until the whole womb is turned in its proper shape and is in its natural position. Tie her left hind foot to a bush, or something, allowing her six to eight feet of rope; leave her for an hour, and her pulling will keep the parts in place until they become set. Where the parts have become dirty, they should be brushed clean with a clean brush or rag. Do not wash with water. Inject or insert with a soft rag a few drops of a 10 per cent solution of carbolic acid. When the lamb is in his natural position he will arrive with his head and front feet first, giving the ewe little trouble, unless the shoulder or withers are abnormally large. When the head is swollen, or one foot is still back, it is certain the ewe needs assistance at once. Nearly all lambs coming with their hind legs or tail first must be pulled; do this as soon as you notice it. Never neglect ewes laboring more than one hour. If they have not had the lamb in this time, it is absolutely necessary to take the lamb from them or it will be dead.