lo Oct. 19 1 o.] Sliecp Dipping. 629 



dipping, and the fact of their being dipped has not meant any extra value 

 when selling off-shears. Sheep owners by not dipping them have saved 

 men's time and cost of sheep dip. This, however, will be altered now 

 that dipping is general throughout the State. 



Lice are very small insects, and are the colour of the yolk they live 

 in. Ticks are many times larger and much more easily detected. The 

 latter discolour the wool, and this stain cannot always be taken out in the 

 scouring. Both irritate the sheep, causing them to rub and thereby destroy 

 the fleece; yet ticks do not cause the same loss as lice, for the latter work 

 in thick patches, and cause the sheep to pull the wool from themselves 

 with their teeth, as well as rub. 



The eggs of the tick are not always destroyed at dipping. It is in 

 cases of this kind where the effect of a powder preparation is evident. 

 The young ticks on hatching come into a fleece throughout which the 

 pow^der is spread. 



There is a skin disease not yet thoroughly understood which appears 

 during periods of droughts, and which can be kept partially in check by 

 the use of powder dips, but not liquid dips. Closely allied with this 

 trouble is ill-breeding, and then follows ill-health. The presence of 

 glandular cysts appears to have relation to this skin trouble, which is 

 mostly seen in merinoes that are bad doers, rarely in crossbreds. Besides 

 these there are other ill-bred sheep of all breeds that will benefit little 

 in the w'ool through dipping and some seasons, even in the best bred flocks, 

 a few may be found so inferior in fleece that it will be difficult to believe 

 that they have been dipped. 



Compulsory dipping will assist such breeds as English and Border 

 Leicester, Romney Marsh, Shropshire and Southdown, for at their best 

 they are behind our Merinoes and Lincolns from a wool point of view. 

 The latter breeds, even when affected with ticks and lice, will cut a fair 

 amount of wool, but the others when dirty, next to nothing. They will, 

 if well bred, now produce better wool than it has been customary to find, 

 especially among farmers' flocks. 



It is generally stated that crossbreds are more subject to ticks and lice 

 than merinoes, but open-woolled merinoes and comebacks are just as .sus- 

 ceptible as the coarser breeds. It is the denser class of merinoes that 

 offer less favourable conditions for the rapid increase of these pests. 

 When dense merinoes do become affected with ticks, the latter are found 

 thickest in the most open portions of the fleece; viz., the flank, behind 

 the arm, and under the neck, which is evidence that they prefer the open 

 wool to get about in. 



Some merino breeders aver that their densest merinoes do not suffer 

 from ticks and lice. They -claim that the fleece is so closely packed on 

 that they cannot get about in it. There is sufficient only in this argument 

 to show that density is a deterrent to vermin breeding rapidly. Of course, 

 crossbreds and all British breeds of sheep poke into corners and through 

 fences, often picking up vermin left by other sheep. Four to six weeks' 

 growth of wool should be on crossbreds at the time of dipping. 



In the case of liquid dips, ticks and lice are destroyed by the liquid 

 soaking into them. With powder dips they are killed mainly by coming 

 into contact with the small particles of finely ground arsenic distributed 

 throughout the wool after the water has evaporated. 



Mixing powder and liquid dips means giving a little more lasting effect 

 to the liquid dip, but it is so little, that it is better to go the whole way 

 and use a powder right out. The powder and liquid dips referred to 

 are mostly arsenical preparations. There are other mixtures, phenolic and 



