CHAPTER V. 



SHEARING. 



On large pastoral properties there are always proper conveniences 

 for the shearing of the sheep. The owner of a small flock is often 

 placed at a disadvantage. He naturally thinks that it will not pay 

 him to erect a special building for the purpose to be used for two or 

 three weeks at the outside once a j^ear and remain idle for the rest 

 of the time and constantly in danger of fire. A building that will 

 serve as a barn and shed for vehicles and machinery may be easily 

 utilised as a shearing shed, all that is necessary being to clean it up 

 thoroughly before commencing to shear. Such buildings are now 

 coming into use on many Victorian farms. 



I am a great believer in the shearing machine patented by Mr. 

 Wolseley, but few sheds on small sheepwalks are strong enough to 

 stand the strain of their use. In a few years time all the sheep in 

 Australia will be shorn by electric machines. I have seen one in 

 Melbourne which worked in a very satisfactory manner, much more 

 so than did the Wolseley machine for a considerable time after it 

 first came into use. With the electric shearer, any shanty can be 

 utilised, as there is no vibration, the power being conveyed to the 

 cutters by means of insulated wires twisted into a cord. 



The power can be provided in a very easy way. The tread 

 power, which has lately come into so much favor with American 

 farmers, is the one for the purpose. To work this tread power what 

 can be better than a couple of heavy bullocks. I believe this tread 

 power requires only to be known to Australian farmers and pas- 

 toralists to come into general use. It is the cheapest, the most avail- 

 able, and the most effective power that can be applied for cutting 

 chaff, pumping water, cutting firewood, shearing the sheep, working 

 the separator, threshing, grinding and crushing grain, etc., and a 

 thousand and one other purposes. 



In putting sheep under cover, no more should be kept in than 

 can be shorn by ten o'clock the next day. Sometimes in bad 

 weather the flock-owner is apt to crowd as many sheep under 

 cover as will last nearly all next day, but when newly shorn sheep 

 are turned out with empty bellies they are ill fitted to stand 

 exposure, and empty sheep are generally badly shorn. 



Katly shearing is generally practised, as most sheep farmers 

 are anxious to ^et their clip to market as soon as possible. I have 

 seen threat mistakes made by early shearing in the capricious climate 

 of western Victoria. Shorn sheep exposed to one of the cold 

 storms and heavy rains that at times occur in spring, suffer great 

 hardship, and at times many deaths are the result. In shearing the 



