202 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



There are several advantages of this early shear- 

 ing. About this time ewes that have been well fed 

 often experience a little loosening of the wool, as 

 though it were time to shed it off, and locks will be 

 lost, particularly about the neck. 



Then the advent of warm days causes a feeling 

 of languor and the sheep do not eat and thrive as 

 has been their wont. And again, there are many 

 showers in April and the flock with fleeces on lit- 

 erally "has not sense enough to come in out of the 

 rain" and the fleeces become drenched and heavy. 

 Then they keep their lambs out in the rain, whereas 

 if they were shorn they would flee to their sheds 

 as soon as the first drops struck them. 



Any one who has once tried this early shearing 

 will continue it. Should the flock be poorly fed, 

 however, and unsheltered, the fleeces should be left 

 on until the middle of May. 



The amount of wool taken off in a period of years 

 will probably be nearly the same whether shorn in 

 April, May or June, with the probability that the 

 early-shorn sheep through their greater vigor and 

 healthfullness may shear the most. 



SHEAKING. 



The shearing of sheep is an art not to be imme- 

 diately learned by the novice. It requires several 

 seasons' practice to make an expert shearer of a 

 man. There is, unfortunately, a scarcity of good 

 shearers in all our eastern states. It is a trade 

 that any vigorous young man may learn with sure 



