Year: 1859

/


A writer in the last number Of the Aoaeri-


can Stock Journal thinks the practice of wash
| ing sheep should be gived up, for the following


reasons


First, tits ofno conceivable advantage to


the sheep; but, on the contrary, often proves


exceedingly Injurious Severe colds and


coughs almost always break out in the flock


Immediately after washing, and often. lay the


foundation of other and more serious disorders,
Second, Nothing is saved to the manufacturer.


by the washing; for washed and unwasheds


wools are aiike subjected to- the same CLEANSING
process. - 80.
THIRD, If sheep are washed they must neces-g


sariy carry their fleece we'll into hotweather.


which is very uncomfortable and unnatuFaI,r
Fourth, Much wool is lost, by being pulled


out by bushes and briars in the pastures, and4


by the slivers of the fences. There is also conas


siderable loss from the legs and bellies of theg


sucking ewes. 4 .efT


He thinks, from several years experience


In shearing sheep early in ltnacaShea State,"


that it is conducive to their health. st' The
proper time for shearing," he says, "is before-s


the sheep go to grass in. the spring. aFhey8
should be we'll sheltered for some ten or fifteen


days after the wool is taken off after which
time no storm will ihjdFe sheep that are in.


good flesh. Every wool-grower should have
comfortable sheds for his shsep during the win,


ter; and with them there is no danger IN shear
ing as es-ly as the first ofMay in New Eng


land, a4Sl much earlier in the South and.


West


This question is worthy of consideration,
That the health of sheep often suffers from,
careless washing, there can be no doubt. The
sheep are sometimes driven three or four miles.
in hot sim, and, while prostrated by heat, are.
plunged into cold water. Such a practice
must be injurious. On the other hand, sheep
can be washed without injury to their health.
They should moi, be washed tiH the water is
warm enough to battle in comfortably Then
if the sheep have not been hastily driven, they
will not suffer by the process.


The principal reason for washing sheep is to-,
remove impurities and reduce the wool to a
more general standard. True, it has to be
washed over again By the manufacturers but
if it was not washed at all on the backs of the
sheep, there would be much less uniformity in
regard to the impurities thar when washed
Flocks that had been carelessly wintered would
afford dirtier wool Tran those properly nlanag-
ed, and the good flock masters would suffer for
the estrelessness of their neighbors. The buyers
would adopt general standard, and they would
make the farmers suffer for the increased risk,
incurred in buying dirty wool. Good sheep
breeders now complain, and justly, that there
is not enough difference n,ade by buyers IN the
price of fine and coarse wool and it seems to
US if sheep were not washed the buyers would
discriminate even less in their favor. The in
tefest IF wool l-grc7erS atid woolbuyers are to
some extent Identical Both can Judge pretty
accurately of the quality and value of a lot of
wool but It would be difficult to estimate the
amount Of impurities in unwashed wool, and
the buyer would make the farmer pay for the
increased risk. 1t is precisely the same in re-
gard to cleaning wheat. A farmer who sells
his wheat in foul state may, for once, get
more for the unwinndwed mass than for the
smaller quantity of good wheat it contains
but in the end the farmers suffer from such
carelesSness. 1t seems to US such would have
been the case in regard to this questionnof
washing sheep. An eminent woolen-manufac-
turer, of Lowell, Mass, says "The cheating
practice of selling wool rinwashed is short sigh
ted, iriasr1dth as the "clean thing brings
price proportionate. We always fix the price
per 10. by the quantity of secured wool the
feeces will yield In our purchases, we free
quently make difference of five cents per 10.
in precisely similar qualities" This advance
is simply sufficient to COMPENSATE for the time
and labor required to wash the sheep. We
hope some of ottr sheepfarnrers will put the
question to a test this season. 0


Sheep washing is usually done about the
last week in May, in the Northern and West
ern States and in Canada. The rule should be
to wait till warm weather has set in other
wise the sheep may suffer, and perhaps perish
from cold and exposure. The best place to
wash sheep in is a running stream of pure wa
ter, with a clean bottom. The following meth
cd is familiar to many of our readers: The
stream may be damned up say three or four
feet high AT 5le lower part Of the dam place
a couple of box trOughs, open at the top;
some eight or ten feet long, across the end of
which place piece of board With an upright
stick nailed to it for a handle. The board
slides in groove and is raised or lowered at
pleasure to allow the water to escape through
the troughs. Boards are laid underneath the
lower ends of the troughs for the washers to
stand on. The sheep are confined in a yard
close BY made of rails or hurdles After the
tags have been removed from the sheep with
a pair Of shears, they are handed, one at time
to the washer, who hold them under the end
Of the trough, turning them about to receive
the full benefit of the falling water. If the
fall of water is considerable-say from two to
six feet-a couple Of turns and good squeeze
of the wool all round will be sufficient to re-
move all impurities


After washing, the sheep should be turned
into a clean pasture, and allowed to remain
least week before shearihg, to enable tn
wool to acquire enough yolk or oil to confer
that softncss and elasticity so much priced by
the manufacturers, and which also adds to the
weight of the fecce.-Genesee Farmer.