ON THE LAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17907, 28 September 1918, Page 6

ON THE LAND.

RURAL TALKS. (By RUSTICUS.) SLOW SEASON. So far the season lias been*a verv disappointing one indeed, and the feed is almost as scarce in some parts ns it waa a month ago. This is not the first time that wo hare had a backward spring, but we thought that after the severe winter wo should have n good turn in tho 6pring. Frosts are the worst things that we have to contend with at the present, and the cold winds that wo are having come a good second. Calm warm weather seems to be unattainable, and that is what is wanted for the present. It is. true that we have not had a great deal of rain during tho past fortnight, but there have been cold squalls, and sleety showers along tho hills, that have done a good deal of damage, among the ewes and lambs. The experience of the past two seasons has been that it is no good having the lambing on too early. In somo "cases where special provision can bo mado the early'liimbs may pay, but in the majority of cases the lambs should not arrive before the grass paddocks get si good bite of feed upon them. It will be found that the early lambs, if they are kept bare, will be beaten by the later lambs whose mothers have plenty of milk for them. In addition the work of lambing the ewoa is twice as difficult when there as little feed for Iho eves. The mothers havo no milk to speak of, and tho lambs are weak, and in addition tho owes are inclined to leave their offspring if they cannot feed them and if they are hungry and have to search for feed. Where there aro twins the ewes will, desert one very readily if feed is scared, and then there is a good deal of work required to find a mother for the deserted lamb, or else it has to be hand fed altogether. In these days, when labour is scarce and farmers have to do most of their own work,, the ewe flock docs not always get the attention it should do, but when feed is plentiful tho lambing is not so much trouble as when there is not sufficient for the ewes. On the other baud, the feed does net require to bo too flush, or there is trouble in that direction. It is all right to put. the ewes and lan :»s on special feed when the lambing is over, but before that time the ewes require to have a nice fresh pick, sufficient, to keep them going and ,to give them a. good supply of mijk, but so rhat they cannot gorge themselves in such a way that they have to lie about too much. They aro far better if they aro obliged to keep gently on the move, but bare paddecks are no good to them-or to their lambs. It would seem, therefore, as if the lambing should be a little later in some districts than is the goneral practice at present. Some-fanners,. I aiti afraid, are in too great a hurry to get their rams out, especially if the autumn is a. good one and there is plenty of feed about for the ewes. This is, of course, a necessary part of the management of the sheap, namely, that the ewes shall have good feed'at tupping time. -But farmers aro apt to forget the spring, when the feed is slow in coming away,, especially along the foothills, where the nights are cool and frosty almost the whole of September.

The crops are showing up but the grass is very backward indeed, and everyone is complaining ahnut it. At the time of writing the glass is' low and the weather has a north-westerly tendency. Nor'-wcsters in. the" daytime and frosts in tho night give vegetation very little opportunity to come away as it should do at this time of the year. THE EWE FLOCK.

I am afraid that n; good many ewes will liave to shift for themselves to a considerable extent during this lambing. The team work is very nvuch in arrears and an endeavour is being made to catch it up. There must be- a large area of oats to sow yet. and it is time that the potatoes and some of the earlier roots were going in. Then there is the, land to prepare for the rape, sn that taking one thing with nother there is not much time to do all this iu. The sheep require some attention, and where the farm is being run singlehanded the owner is putting in a very strenuous time at the present. He is trying to keep the horses going as many hours as possible and manage tho sheep as well. Any who have had to do cither .job know very well that it is impossible to do justice to the team or to the sheep under this system, but with the scarcity of men and the high wages that are being paid, it is impossible for many farmers to do otherwise. Somo manage by tending the sheep in the morning and by driving the horses in the afternoon. Of course the ewes should he watched all the day when the lambs are comin». as 'hero is always some-tiling that can be ..one to give the lambs or the ewes. » chance. But when there is other work to do as well,- and only one man on the farm to do has to be neglected. In some cases that one man is being taken away and then matters must go to pieces altogether unless someone can be found to take over the management. In any case it cannot be expected that the newcomer will do as well as the owner. "When tho feed is scarce the tendency is for the ewes with twins to leave the weakly lamb and to go off with tho stronger one. In 'some cases this may be remedied by taking away the stronger lamb for an hour or two, leaving the weaker one with the mother. She will . then tako

to it and feed it, thus giving it a fair start, in life. When the. stronger animal is put back again it is probable that the ©we \rill take to both of them. If a ewe loser, her lamb she should not ho allowed to get off rearing one. The twins should be split whenever possible, and the ewes that have lost their lambs should be given ono of twins whenever possible, or else a lamb that has lost its mother should be given to the lambics.? ewe. There are a good many triplets about this year and tho trios should be divided as soon as possible. It is not often that a. ewe will make a success of rearing three lambs. If she rears one well she- does very well indeed. If the holding is suitable, and the steading is in a convenient place it is the %t»Bst' plan to bring the ewe that is to act as a foster mother to the .yards and the shed. She can bo closely watched there, and invariably she can bo made to take a lamb by a little persuasion. Ewes recognise their offspring by scent, and ibis gives a good clue' to the best way to persuade a ewe to toko a iamb which is not her own. \? some of the milk of the ewe is put-over the iamb* the mothering-tip will be easier of accomplishment, or if some whisky or other strong-smelling liquid be placed on the lamb, and then in the ewe's nose, the arrangement desired can be carried out with comparative ease. If tho dark shed is used, the mothering-up is not difficult, and if this cannot be used it is a good plan to tie up the ewe for a few days in such a way that she cannot injure the lamb, while the youngster can get at tho ewe in order to get a drink. Another plan is to put'up a few hurdles hero and there in the paddock to be used as mothering-up yards. If a fos-ter-mother cannot be found for ono of twins which the mother could not rear, or for a motherless lamb, the youngster may be fed for a few days on t<he bottle till there is a chance to get a foster-mother. Pet lambs pay well enough,'and are worth the trouble ot rearing, but it is a better plan to give them to ewes if at all possible. A good shepherd should wind tip the season with very few pet iambs indeed. On a fairly large place I have seeu some of the "ewes that had. lost their lambs held near tho homestead in a little paddock. Any lambs that had to be reared were then brought in, and every night and morning fcbe.te ewes were driven into -a yaivil, w) .> they were packed fairly ; :sely together. The lambs v.-ere then put among them, and with a little management they soon learned to get a drink from the ewes. They simply tackled the first ewe that they came up against, and when they got fairly strong and could look out for themselves, they did very well. They did not want any invitation to go info the yard with the ewos,. and the ew-2s soon got to know what was expected of them. Tiiis seemed a rough-and-ready way of doing things, hut it saved a good*- deal of work and trouble, and that seems to be the object nowadays, and in any case many farmers are compelled to take short cuts in order to get through with things. If there are any pet lambs on the place, they should be shut away in a paddock or grassy yard, where they cannot get into any' mischief, and they should ..bo fed regularly.- Some state that they cannot succeed in reaving pets, but my experience is that they are very easy to rear, and they will do very well after a time. They seem to look out all thp sweet bites that aro to be had about the place, and as they are afraid of nothing they grow and fatten well. They arc a nuisance about the house and the garden, and they should never be allowed there oil anv pretext whatever. • Lambs soon begin to pick up bits of wool that are lying about, raid it is essential that they should not be allowed to get any. in the first place, the ewes should be well crutched in the autumn or the winter, so that the udder may be bare of wool at lambing time. I notice that some of the Hocks have not been crutched tin's year at allowing to the weather and the- stress of other work. There is always trouble where the udder is covered with wool, and the ewes get dirty as well, particularly when the grass comes away later on. It pays to crutch tho ewes, both for the sake of the lamb and for the preservation of the wool. ' I remember that years ago an old shepherd informed me that it was a bad principle to leave, bits of wool about the paddocks for the lambs to pick up, 'as it was injurious to them and meant the death of a good many of them. I was inclined to be sceptical at tho time, but I have seen enough sjnee to convince ra» that the old man was right. Sometimes a. sheep will get cast, and if the dead animal is plucked pieces of wool are apt to get scattered about. It may be that some of the points are left with' a -little wool on them, and the result is that the vicinity of the deceased sheep becomes marked by bits of wool before long. Lambs aro very prone -to pick, up these scraps of wool, and if they do so they will have trouble. It is becoming the practice to pluck instead of to siah the sheep that die about the. paddocks, because the job is an easier one and is not fraught with the same risk of •bloodpoisoning, and also because the pelt is worth very little when the sheep has died a natural death, whereas wellsaved " dead" wool will bring a good price. When the sheep is plucked, all the wool is got off, and it sells well.

it is stated that some of tho ewes that were .taken out of the high country in snow-time and putA on • turnips on the lower country are now dying on the road tor :!: again, in some cases the losses, have been o,uite serious and veterinary aid has had to be called in. The verdict is that the sheep are suffering from ante-partum paralysis, and that they have been so well fed on the unaccustomed 'diet of turnips that they have- become too fat and sluggish". They did not get the exercise they a.re used to on tho hills when foraging for their food, and they laid on the fat in such a way that there is now trouble. In order to prevent further losses tho sheep have to be travelled very slowly along the roa'ds to their destination, and where the distance to be got over is a fairly large one the sheep will take a long while in reaching their country. Some are inclined to doubt the verdict of the veterinarians in this matter, but the experts have a good deal on their side to bear out their theories. No doubt all farmers lose a few ewes through this trouble. Some of tho sheep that were taken out of the snow did not have a good time down, country. They found conditions very wet and unpleasant, as rain was frequent throughout July and August. They found conditions much different from the tussocks, and some did not do as well as they should have clone. On the other hand, some mobs apparently did too well and got an insufficient amount of exercise. It is always a safe thing to drive the ewes off and on the turnips m_ the winter months. The hit of stirring up they got is just what is wanted to keep them right.