ON THE SHEEP FARM

Te Ao Hou, September 1960, Page 58

ON THE SHEEP FARM By the time that this publication reaches the farmer lambing will be the main job on the sheep farm but it should still not be too late to give a few hints covering the care of lambing ewes. About 10 per cent of all lambs are either born dead or die during the first week. These losses can be reduced by careful shepherding. Many lambs and some ewes can be saved by skilled assistance during lambing. A reliable lubricating antiseptic should always be used on hands and wrists when attending to ewes as faulty presentation must be corrected. A lamb should never be forcibly pulled away when a leg or the head is turned back. Many lambs die from suffocation even after delivery through the cleanings remaining over the nostrils; these are easily removed if attended to soon enough. Where necessary lambs should be assisted to get their first drink of milk. This is particularly important when the ewe has very large teats. Drawing away a few squirts of milk will reduce the size of the teat and enable the newlyborn lamb to suckle. These ewes with very large teats and others with extra small teats, badly placed teats or defective udders, should be marked for culling. A big per-

centage of their lambs will die through not being able to get milk. Many lambs which die during the cold wet weather would survive if they got a good drink soon after birth. Docking of the lambs is also a most important job and very often too little time is spent on the preparation for this work. First select a level clean grassed area in the corner of a paddock and fence off with netting an area of sufficient size to hold all the ewes and lambs in that paddock. When mustered in they should be allowed sufficient time to cool off before the docking operations commence. A smaller yard should then be erected in front of the big yard to be used as the main docking pen and with a good docking board of convenient height the work is made easy. Be sure to have ample disinfectant available in which to dip the tools of trade. Docking fluid should also be used if the knife is necessary.