Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1855-08-15
Sheep-Shearing in Spain.

We make the following extract from
the forthcoming Agricultural Report on
the sheep-husbandry Of Spain:
g The season for strengthening in Spain
like the harvest and vintage in corn and
wine countries, is time of great festiv-
ity and rejoicing both to the proprietor
and the workmen. A multitude of shear
ers, washers, and other attendants are fed
upon the flesh of the culled sheep, and it
would seem that the slaughter occasioned
by this season of feasting would be suf-
fcient to consume the whole flock.
1.-THE operation for shearing com
mences on the first of May, provided the
weather be fair; for if the wool be not
quite dry, the feeces, which are closely
piled upon one another as soon as they
are taken off, would foment and rot. 1t
is for this reason that the business is per-
formed in large, spacious buildings called
esquileos, which are usually so arranged
as to receive entire focks of twenty, forty,
and even sixty thousand sheep; and besides
the constitutions of the ewes are such
that if they were exposed Immediately
after shearing to the air Of bleak, stof-
my night, they would all perish.
"a certain number of sheep are led in
to the great shelter-house, built in the
form of parallelogram. four or five hun
dred feet long and one hundred wide,
where they remain during the day. AS
many sheep as it is judged can be dispatch
ed by the sherman next day, are driven
into long, narrow passage, called auda-
dero,' or sweating place, where they re-
main all night crowded as closely as pos
lsible together, in order that they may
profusely sweat, which is to soften the
wool for the shears, and as the shepherd
says, to oil their edges
"By degrees, the next morning, the
sheep are led into the spacious shearing
room, which Joins the sweating-place. As
fast as they are sheared the shepherd car
ries them off to be. marked with tar, usu-
ally with the first letter of the name of
the proprietor; and each subdivision is
denoted by the part Of the animal on
which this letter is placed; and as this
operation is necessarily performed upon
one at time, it gives fair opportunity
to Gull out for the butchery all the sheen
of the fock which have lost their teeth
A man can shear twelve ewes in a day.
or eight rams. The feeces of three Of
the latter often weigh, in the dirt of the
yolk, Is pounds, which is equivalent to
those of four weathers or five ewes. The,
reason of the difference in the number of
sheep sheared in day is, not only be-
cause the rams have larger bodies, are
stronger and have more wool, but the
shearmen dare not tie their feet as thew
do those of the unresisting ewes. Expe-
rience has taught them that bold, re-
bellious ram would struggle even to suff-
ocation, thus confined under the shears.
consequently, they gently lay him down,
stroke his belly, and actually beguile him
out Of his fleece.
The sheep that have been shorn are
allowed to- go to the fields if the weather
be fine, in order to feed during the day.
and in the evening they return to the yard
in front of the shearing house to pass the
night, and if the weather be cold or
cloudy, they are sheltered within. Thus
they are by degrees to. endure the open
air, and their first days journey from the
esquileos to the mountains is short.n