FLOCK HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN STATES 237 



sheep on western ranges. An old friend of the 

 writer, now known and honored throughout all that 

 mountain region and one of the largest sheep own- 

 ers, began ranch life as a shearer on California 

 ranges. He now owns probably 50,000 sheep of his 

 own. There are now a good many plants where ma- 

 chine shears are in operation and their number is 

 increasing; nevertheless there are many situations 

 where the old hand shears will continue to be used. 



DIPPING. 



Dipping on the range should be a regular yearly 

 or semi-annual practice. When it can be done it 

 should follow shearing. Another practice is to dip 

 when the lambs are weaned in the fall. The dipping 

 is done in a rapid manner by means of very long 

 tanks or swimming vats, through which the sheep 

 are crowded in rapid succession. A furnace adja- 

 cent, with boilers, heats and cooks the dip used. 

 Several thousand sheep are dipped in a day, accord- 

 ing to the size of the plant. The dip most used is 

 lime and sulphur, which is certainly when rightly 

 compounded an efficient scab destroyer. 



The writer when engaged in sheep ranching on 

 the hills and mesas of Utah did not use this dip, 

 since it is injurious to the fleece and seemed not to 

 eradicate the disease, but used instead one of the 

 dips prepared from coal tar, using it strong and hot, 

 and entirely eradicated scab from his range, so 

 that it did not again reappear during his occupancy 

 of it. There is no doubt that scab can be entirely 



