630 MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP ON ARABLE LAND 



thrown into a large pond and made to swim through it once 

 or possibly twice ; but the operation has become less general 

 than it was in the seventies of last century when the price of 

 wool was very high. 



The time of Clipping or Shearing is dependent on the 

 weather, and, in the case of lean sheep, on the " rise " of new 

 wool. Unless for special purposes, sheep are clipped in the 

 new growth of wool. Cheviot rams for sale as breeders are 

 an exception. 



Eild sheep, or those not giving milk, are shorn first : from 

 the beginning of May onwards, in the South, and ewes three 

 or four weeks later. Exposure to cold by early clipping 

 greatly diminishes the flow of milk, and might also cause 

 death in some cases from inflammation. The new wool left 

 upon breeding ewes or sheep in poor condition is not so 

 dense or close as that of fat sheep, and consequently not so 

 effective as a means of protection. Show sheep if clipped 

 early require to be kept under cover. Fat sheep clipped for 

 the spring market have, by law, woollen sheets put on them 

 if the weather be at all cold, and neglect to comply with this 

 regulation is punishable. Lambs are not shorn the first year, 

 except in a few districts of England where they are highly 

 fed, and are a good size when summer arrives. Twenty-five 

 to thirty stock sheep of a large breed is a good number for a 

 man to clip in a day : the cost averages about 45. per score 

 when done by piecework. If the shearer be restricted to 

 twenty per day, as in the case of fat sheep for market, which 

 require to be clipped over the back and to be done bare and 

 well, the cost is raised to 55. per score. 



Shearing by mechanical means is general in our 

 Australian colonies, where the numbers of sheep are counted 

 by tens of thousands, and where labour is not only expensive 

 but difficult to control. They are also securing a footing in 

 some districts of this country in two forms : the mechanical- 

 power machine for large flocks, driven by an oil-engine ; and 

 the handpower machine, shearing one sheep at a time, 

 worked by a strong boy, or by petrol. 



The advantages of the shearing-machine over the hand- 

 shears are (i) an increase of work is done, by some 20 to 25 

 per cent. ; (2) unskilled labour can be employed at a cheaper 

 rate ; (3) more wool can be removed ; (4) the work is more 



