Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1867-04-30
Advice to Wool Growers

! Advice to Wool Growers.
| All dry burs which attach them.
selves TO wool should be extermin-
ated from the pastures Lefore the
sheep are turned on them in the
spring.
TAGGING.
To save wool and add to the healtl
ard comfort of the sheep, they should
be tagged before they are turned out
to grass in the spring. This is done
by cutting away the wool around
the vent and the inside of the thighs
Sheep, especially ewes which have
not LANDED, should be handled care,
fully and laid on iheir sides while
the operation is performed.
TIME AND MODE OF WASHING.
1t is generally held by those who
i have tried it, that early spring is
preferable for washing sheep, if they
can be subsequently housed in case
of severe storms or unusually cold
nights. As early washing is i'm.
proper in cold climates, it is urged
that sheep should be shorne unwash.
ed. This is a question upon which
sheep gro Sers should be allowed tc
exercise their own Judgment; MOI
should any buyer attempt to
compel washing, or to take advan
tage of its omission by insisting upon
a particular and fixed rate of shrink
age on unwashed woods. The shrink
age on every lot should he proper
toned to its actual condition as de-
duction is made on wheat and other
products, or on foreign woods which
contains impurities.
CUTTING HooFs.
Merino sheep generally require to
have their feet trimmed at least once
year. Some do this at washing,
when the feet are clean and soaked
soft, others Immediately after shear
40
sHEARING.
Shearing should take place when
the oily feeling matter termed yolk,
has so far appeared in the wool as to
give it its natural brilliant appear
ance and silky feeling. The mode of
shearing cannot be described here IN
detail The wool should be cut off
evenly and smoothly, reasonably
close, but not leaving the skin bare
and red, which renders the sheep
very liable to receive injury from
cold uStubhle sbearlne" and "trim-
ming i, c. leaving the wool long so
as to give the next fleece the appears
ance of extraordinary lenght, or
leaving it long in places in order to
affect the apparent shape OF the an
imal are both frauds.
DOING UP THE WOOL.
The fleece should be as little brok.
en- in shearing as possible 1t should
be gathered up carefully, placed up
on a smooth table with inside ends
down, in the exact shape in which il
comes from the sheep, and pressed
close together. If there is dung
balls they should be removed. Fold
in each side one. quarter, next the
neck and breech one quarter, ana
the fleece will then be in an oblong
square form, some twenty inches
wide and twenty-five or thirty inches
long. Then fold it once more length
wise, and it is ready to be rolled up
and tied, or placed in the press. The
improved wool press worked by a
lever or by a crank, does the work
far more expeditiously, better, and
with much less labor than doing 1t
by hand Three bands of moderate
sized Irvine, flax or hemp, free from
all loose fibre, once round, or enough
for the fleece. 1t is fraudulent to put
the unwashed wool of sheep that
have died with disease, or of those
have been killed, or unwashed tags
into washed fceces. 1t is also fraud
ulent to sell barred wool, so done up
as to eorceale the burs, without Civ
ing notice to the buyer. The buried
wool shonld be put by itself, so that
the buyer can open and examine IT,
SPRING WOOL.
Wool should be stored in q clean,
dry room, tight enough to keep out
dust, vermin and insects.
This is my advice to wool growers.
DOUGLAS OLIVER.
NORTH ASDovER, Grant Co Wis. April ..