Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-02-12
SHEEP-RAISING IN TEXAS.
Dipping Sheep According to Law-The
Relative Profits of Different Breeds
Identifying Lost Sheep.

know how TO treat them. The last
dipping" until Spring returns has
been given them.
dipping" is a laborious and in other
respects unpleasant task. 1t is as much
a part of the routine of shepherd S
duties as shearing, with the difference
that its comes oftener. 1t is prevent
! i've as well as cure of disease known
as scab. Scab is as contagious among
sheep as smallpox in the human FAM
lily. 1t is as bad as the itch in the dis
trict school. In fact it belongs to the
itch family. Sheep men are required
by law to dip their sheep. The ob1iga-
| ton of the law is observed with about
the same reverence as areyour licenses,
/ prohibition and local option laws at the
North.
What clipping" is done is from a
motive of seif-interest on the part of
the owner. The shiftless and the lazy
viii not attend to their 1locks in their
own interest, and consequently are not
expected to have a greater interest in a
statute of Texas than they have in their
own bread and butter. The parasite is
allowed to burroW in the cuticle of the
poor sleeps back. The victim is con-
stantly seeking relief by rubbing against
all the mesquit bushes he can find,
scratching out wool at each rub until,
when shearing time comes, the thrift
less owner looks first at the sheep and
then at the mesquit, seriously ponder
ing which has the most wool, and which
would give the best results in shearing,
the sheep or the bushes
The old school of sheepmen baptise
the animal in a decoction of tobacco.
but the new school use some of the
| combinations of carbolic acid or sui
phur. The operation is to seize the
animal and douse him entirely in the
prepared bath, save his head, and then
let him stand for moment on a plank
where drainage of his fleece will run
back into the vat.
1t is a simple enough operation as
applied to one animal, but when re-
peated thousand or more times it be-
comes as mOnOtOnous as washing
dishes. l am always glad when dip
ping" is over.
Abilene, Taylor county, located on
the Texas Pacific, is our market for our
wool. Indeed, the town has become
quite wool center. The sheep bust
ness is now suffering as much from low
prices as wheat culture. Wool has
been sold as low as cents per pound.
Please contemplate the fact of a pound
of wool being worth trifie less than
pound of cotton. Under such circum-
stances nothing bnt force of habit would
cause manufacturer to mix cotton in
his wooden goods.
Such prices can not be due to either
a horizontal or a perpendicular tariff,
but lies somewhere between overpro-
ductlOn and undercOnsumption.
There is, however, a great difference
in the quality of wool. That from the
Mexican sheep is straight and hairy.
From long haphazard breeding and
pot-lcuk care, the animals have ten
dency to become goat-like in habit of
life and character of fleece. The wool
from a Merino, or Merino grade, is
kinky, but silk-like in texture The diff
ference in the profit of the two breeds
is very marked. AS marked and APP
parent as is the difference, one lust en-
gaging in the business particularly if
he is ''tender-foot' lis quite as apt to
take the wrong course as the right one,
usually little more so. The money
that will buy 1000 Merinos will buy
$500 Mexican sheep.
One of the most common mistakes a
novice makes in about every thing IS a
desire to do a big thing. Size is every
thing to him, at the expense of quality
To him sheep is a sheep, and the
greatest number of noses that can be
had for given amount of money is the
hest bargain.
The Merinos require little more
care that the MeXicans. 1t lies more
in the direction of vigilance and thought
fulness than in any money expense
The difference in the amount and value
of the wool is about 70 per cent IN IA
vor OF the Merino, and the differenc
in the increase of the flock about a.
much more, making a total advantage
on the side of the Merino of about $50
per cent.
The general appearance and general
culture Of the average sheep-herder do
not possess many attractions to people
of refined society. 1t is not best to
have too great contempt for the poor
fellow. There are a few things that
have come within the lines of his re-
stricted life that he knows just a little
better than anybody else. His exper-
fence has all been in sheep society.
These he has mingled with day in and
day out for years, and he knows them
all, their habits and individual pecu-
liarities to fraction. To a casual OBJ
server a thousand sheep have no more
individuality than a thousand peas or
flies. Not SO with the expert sheep
herder.
Politicians and drummers having the
power to recall names and faces to
high degree are sometimes spoken ofas
prodigies. [ doubt if there are any in
these professions whose memory can
command more of their constituency
than can the sheep-herder of his.
If by accident one of his flock shall
become mixed with another of thous-
and in number, he can 60 among them
and identify the one strayed from the
fold with unerring certainty. He iden-
titles mainly by the expression of the
face. Mexican herdsmen are particu-
tbic Who, ~, n