SHEEP— CARE AND MANAGEMENT 



227 



one foot to another, occasionally degene- 

 rating into a slow or chronic form, and at- 

 tacking the sinews, ligaments* and joints, 

 as well as the muscles. The neck and 

 loins are the parts most frequently at- 

 tacked, either separately or combined. 

 The former affection causes the head to 

 be carried in a bent position, and the lat- 

 ter produces considerable stiffness and 

 weakness of the loins. The treatment 

 should consist in removing the animal to 

 a comfortable place, giving an active pur- 

 gative, such as two ounces of Epsom 

 salts dissolved in warm water, with a 

 drachm of ginger and ^ an ounce of 

 spirits of nitrous ether. A stimulant, 

 such as hartshorn and oil, or opodeldoc, 

 should be well rubbed over the affected 

 part; and if the disease assumes a chron- 

 ic form, a seton should be inserted near 

 the part. 



SHEEP, Directions for Shearing.— The 

 shearer may place the sheep on that part 

 of the floor assigned to him resting on its 

 rump, and himself in a posture with his right 

 knee on a cushion, and the back of the ani- 

 mal resting against his left thigh. He grasps 

 the shears about half way from the point 

 to the bow, resting his thumb along the 

 blades, which gives him a better command 

 of the points. He may then commence 

 cutting the wool at the brisket, and, pro- 

 ceeding downward, all upon the sides of 

 the belly to the extremity of the ribs, the 

 external sides of both sides to the edges 

 of the flanks, then back to the brisket, 

 and thence upwaid, shearing the wool 

 from the breast, front, and both sides of 

 the neck, but not yet the back of it, and 

 also the poll, or forepart, and top of the 

 head. Then "the jacket is opened," and 

 its position, as well as that of the shearer 

 is then changed, by the animal's being 

 turned flat upon its side, one knee of the 

 shearer resting on the cushion, the other 

 gently pressing the fore-quarter of the an- 

 imal to prevent any struggling. He then 

 resumes, cutting upon the flank and rump, 

 and thence onward to the head. The sheep 

 is then turned on the other side — in do- 

 ing which great care is requisite to pre- 

 vent the fleeces being torn; and the 

 shearer proceeds as upon the other side. 

 He must then take the sheep near to the 

 door through which it is to pass out, and 

 neatly trim the legs, leaving not a solita- 

 ry lock anywhere as a lodging-place for 



ticks. It is absolutely necessary for him 

 to remove from his stand to trim, other- 

 wise the useless stuff from the legs be- 

 comes intermingled with the fleece-wool. 

 In the use of the shears, the blades must 

 be laid as flat to the skin as possible, the 

 points not lowered too much, nor should 

 more than one or two inches be cut at a 

 clip, and frequently not so much, but de- 

 pending on the compactness of the wool. 



SHEEP, How to Purchase. — The best 

 sheep for a man to buy who is just start- 

 ing a flock, are young two and three year 

 old ewes. Next to such, we should prefer 

 to buy yearling ewes, although having to 

 wait a year longer for increase. We con- 

 sider it poor policy, and do not practice 

 breeding yearlings. It will do in small 

 flocks, where yearlings are large of their 

 age, but not in large flocks — or Merino 

 sheep especially. Next to yearlings, we 

 would take a flock of thrifty lambs. But 

 there is a very wide difference in the lots 

 of lambs raised by different owners in the 

 West, owing much to the manner in 

 which they have been treated. The sort 

 we should not want are those which were 

 dropped in May, June and July, which 

 were not weaned early enough, or not 

 given a good chance at weaning, or even 

 in some cases which have not been wean- 

 ed at all, any further than the ewes wean- 

 ed them. Although four and five year 

 old ewes are not objectionable, if right 

 other ways, yet there is, in general, noth- 

 ing like young sheep. 



A man who is acquainted with sheep 

 should, on proposing to himself to buy a 

 flock which may have been driven in to 

 sell, for instance, take with him some man 

 who is posted on sheep. A sheep man, 

 on coming up to such a flock, will take a 

 general look over it to note condition, 

 thrift, quality of wool, etc. He will then 

 wish to have them up in a yard, where 

 he can catch them, to make more partic- 

 ular examination. He catches a lot of 

 the oldest appearing ones and looks in 

 their mouths; he watches sharply for any 

 indications of scab (small patches of wool 

 gone), and makes a rigid examination 

 with his knife of the hoofs of such as 

 limp the least bit or show any tenderness 

 in their feet. If any of the hoofs have 

 been treated for foot rot at any time 

 within six months, he is sure to see it; 

 it shows either in the growth of the edge 



