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Show X t v X , v rfpr f ). w 7 r ; i ah I . M V4i 'A W " ' JJ'i '. ' It ' " ,f.i . , , w , , , , , f ' ' 4 ; 's ( t ' x - , - v t- ' jv i ' , - a . -. ..... ; ' ' 'v - ,k i 1 KEEPS HIM BUSY Who says being 85-years-old means you can slow down, a bit? Bill Firth just keeps on a goin', taking care of his many new-born lambs, for one thing. LAYTON -- Traditionally the birth of lambs isconsidered to be the signal of spring. This is not true if you judge spring time by the birth of lambs on the J. William (Bill) Firth farm in East Layton. MR. FIRTH'S lambs began arriving in late December. By the end of January most of his expectant ewes have delivered. deli-vered. Raising lambs through the cold months of January and February is carefully planned by Mr. Firth. "I want to have them big enough to sell by Easter," he explains. LN SPITE of cold temperatures tempera-tures and snow, Mr. Firth has the ability to raise most of his lambs. It is rare that a lamb or a ewe dies. "I let them Iamb inside in-side a shed. The young ones are kept dry. Cold won't bother a lamb but wet rainy weather will," Mr. Firth says. He explains that early lambing lamb-ing is possible only when the sheep are kept in a farm setting. set-ting. You have to have sheds to give shelter to the mothers and their young. Range sheep could never lamb this early. THE SURVIVAL rate for range sheep can't be as high as it is for sheep raised on a smaller smal-ler farm. The feed they receive on the range, the number of sheep in the herd and the rugged rug-ged life sheep lead in the open all are factors that work against lamb and ewe survival. Mr. Firth prefers raising the Columbia sheep because this breed produces the best wool. He does have a few black-faced black-faced Suffolks in his herd. These are raised for mutton. MR. FIRTH gives special time and attention to his lambs. The animals are bedded in straw that is changed each Saturday when Mr. Firth can get help from his son and grandson. Hay is the main food in a sheep's diet although Mr. Firth supplements the hay with a mixture of grains including oats, barley and corn. He has a special feeding trough designed de-signed so the lambs can eat the grain but the ewes can't get their head into the trough. MR. FIRTH keeps his ewes for many years. "As long as they are healthy and are producing pro-ducing healthy lambs. I might keep a ewe up to 1 0 years . You can't do that with range sheep. They only last about six years," Mr. Firth says. Buck sheep don't stay too many years on the Firth Farm. "I keep a buck for two or three years - until they start getting mean," reasons Mr. Firth. He goes on to explain the best way to control a charging buck is with a broom handle. He keeps several in his farm yard. "You can't hurt them by hitting them in the head. You just have to push them back with a handle," hand-le," Mr. Firth says. HE THEN goes on to tell a story about his childhood. "My parents had some brass buckets they got in England. They were extra nice. I was carrying water in one of the brass buckets when a buck sheep charged at me. I hit him in the head with the empty bucket. The prized brass bucket buck-et smashed flat. Boy, did I catch it for ruining my mother's bucket." A lamb raised on the Firth farm will weigh about 12 pounds at birth. By Easter time, the weight increases to about 90 or 100 pounds. "In a period of 91 days a lamb will increase its weight to about 91 pounds," Mr. Firth cleims. SINGLE LAMBS gain weight faster and do better. Mr. Firth believes, than lambs born as twins although twins and occasionally triplets can be raised with few problems. So far this year Mr. Firth's ewes have delivered five sets of twins. About 15 years ago, Mr. Firth had a surprise. In late May and early June his ewes started lambing. This wouldn't be unusual under most circumstances cir-cumstances but it was out of the ordinary on the Firth farm because these same ewes had produced a lamb crop in late December and early January. Occasionally one or two ewes will give a "second" crop of lambs. This particular year Mr. Firth raised 29 lambs in his "second" crop. AS THE weather improves and the lambs are allowed to go outside in the sun, Mr. Firth enjoys watching them run, play and jump at erratic angles on a small hill near the lambing sheds. "There's nothing quite like watching lambs playing in the sun," Mr. Firth says. Shearing time follows the lambing season. "I could shear 50 sheep with hand sheers in one day. This is all done with electric clippers now. There is no job harder than shearing a 200 pound sheep," Mr. Firth explains. SHEEP ON the Firth farm are sheared in April if the weather is good. "It's hard to tell what time is best for sheep shearing. Shear too early and you can have problems. One year Dell Adams lost 1500 head of sheared range sheep in Nevada because a bad storm came up just after he had his herd sheared," Mr. Firth recalls. re-calls. A healthy Columbian sheep that has been raised in a pasture pas-ture and fed hay in the winter time can produce over 90 pounds of wool. |