FLUSHING EWES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 4 September 1915, Page 2

FLUSHING EWES.

• Breeding ewes are most successful when in good store condition. In our genial climate' (writes Hickory in the Australasian) it is very difficult in good seasons to keep k*een foragers, like Shropshires for instance, in any other condition than fat; and increases are for this reason often indifferent. This applies also to rams; and their propensity to fatten and become lazy has given rise to a. practice of putting a merino with Shropshire rains into a crossbred flock for early lambs. This makes the Shropshire rams work better, but results in an unevenness, which is felt when lambs are to be marketed. An ideal condition for a breeding flock is a sufficient quantity of wholesome pasturage which will entail plenty of exercise over sound country, and thus ensure a healthy constitution. When the ewes are in store condition, it is an old English practice to feed them up well two or three weeks before breeding time with clover hay and grain; and this is held to have a considerable effect on the lambing percentage. With us it is a more usual custom to take the condition off breeding sheep before the rams are joined with them; but the reverse order only wants a trial to convince. On our mixed farms the necessity for keeping the fallow clean lends itself well to keeping the breeding flock in good working condition,

but of course demands good fences, and ; does tiot improve tlie fleece. A choice weil-gi-assed paddock saved for the/ purpose, ' a small lucerne patch, hay, green maize or sorghum, ensilage, ami grain i'eed are all suitable tor "flushing" ewes, particularly the more .succulent fodders,,and not at ( all difficult to provide. At the "Werribee Experiment Farm, the Suffolk sheep were kept for a month on rather bare stubble, then they were put in a paddock fairly well grassed with red clover; and to this the officer in charge of the sheep attributes the fine lambing percentage.