54- Journal of Agriculture. [lo Aug., 1910. 



wash is the cause, sheep men will have noticed an increased tendency to 

 leave droppings while draining. Another source of fouling the bath is 

 with the dirt taken in on the feet of the sheep, especially in yards without 

 paving or grating, and particularly after a shower. 



Sheep off shears, especially open woolled sheep, can be put through a 

 more filthy bath than those carrying a half-inch or more of wool, for the 

 latter, especially if dense Merinoes, will carry the stain mark of foul dip 

 right on to shearing. It is only in very wet winters that this stain is 

 washed out. 



The extra cost of long swims and of cesspools, for it is not reallv 

 necessary to have the latter on small dips, is better spent in providing a 

 good supply of water close by, and a pump for filling quickly. The 

 mixing of the dipping preparations now on the market takes little time 

 and gives no trouble for each filling. 



Manufacturers of dipping preparations usually state in their printed 

 directions that a certain quantity of wash will dip a given number of sheep, 

 calculating that each sheep absorbs so much wash. This, taken on the 

 average, is correct, but there must be a dei)th of at least 30 ins. of wash 

 before a single sheep can be put through, and this quantity must remain 

 in the dip after the last sheep is dealt with. 



It is always best to put rams and all the largest sheep through first 

 while the water is high in the widest part of the dip. Smaller sheep and 

 lambs should come last, when the dip is lowest and the wash is in the 

 narrowest part — they are also the lightest to fall when the bath is shallow. 



In large dips a good approach to the slide means less rough handling 

 of the sheep and faster work, but in small dips it is not really necessary. 

 Sheep need not be brought up from the ground level at all. There is, and 

 always will be, hard work connected with getting sheep into dips, and, 

 unless there is necessity for putting through 2,000 to 4,000 per day, there 

 is no need to bring them up an incline race, for it only means a further 

 distance for them to fall when the bath is low and at its narrowest. 



Many farmers have u.sed large station dips and lost sheep thereby. 

 Many of these, when once filled, will dip 5,000 sheep without any addi- 

 tional mixing. Should a small wool-grower wish to dip 1,000 sheep he 

 would need to mix 2,000 gallons although 1,000 gallons in a suitably con- 

 structed dip would be ample. 



The plan of slide board, decoy pen and race, as shown in No. 7, is a 

 combination of all good points yet proved in approaches to dips. For 

 after all this is where the hardest work connected with dipping lies. Men 

 lose their tempers, with old ewes especially, and hard words and severe 

 handling of the sheep follow. In the plan shown it will be noticed that 

 the race is not very steep and that the slide board is part of the dip itself, 

 and that the race and slide board are connected by a declining race. The 

 latter is covered with heavy gauge galvanized iron and is of just sufficient 

 slope to cause them to slip at each effort to stand nearer the slide. The 

 race being narrow they cannot turn round. 



The race widens off just as the swinging door is reached, and this 

 encourages the sheep to jump across to the otTiers in the decoy pen. The 

 swinging door comes back into its place after each sheep passes under it. 

 When the decoy pen becomes full the sheep slip in backwards from the 

 far side of the wide slide board and not from the end of the race as is 

 usual — the sheep in the decoy pen really force the latest comers in. Sheep 

 should never be put in head foremost. The decoy pen is higher at the 

 furthest side and is sloping towards the slide. The .sheep in it can be 

 seen by those coming into the entrance of the furthest race. 



