io8 THE SHEEP AND WOOL INDUSTRY 



PREPARING MERINO LAMBS' WOOL FOR MARKET. 



Before commencing, to shear lambs' wool all the tables on which 

 it is to be sorted and classed must be covered over with a sheet ; 

 a good strong calico or hessian sheet is generally used. This is 

 done to prevent the lambs' wool from falling through the spaces 

 between the table, as the staple of lambs' wool is much shorter 

 than that of the older sheep. A very important thing, and one 

 that a great many classers do not bother about, is the way the 

 lambs' wool is brought to the tables from the shearing board. 

 When the belly wool is taken off, also the short, fribby, yolky wool 

 from the insides of the leg and crutch, the. boy brooming should 

 be made to sweep it away from the shearer and place it in a 

 basket, so that the remainder of the fleece will not get mixed with 

 it. This is very important, because if this low wool is kept away 

 from the bulk of the fleece, the sorters or lamb-pickers can do 

 their work much faster and better. All the belly and low wool 

 which has been swept away is brought up to a table and the 

 stained wool and dags taken out of it. This wool will then go 

 straight into the seconds lambs, which is branded " A. Lambs'." 



No picker-up should be allowed to bring up two or three fleeces 

 together. Lambs' wool is picked up from the shearing floor by 

 getting it between two boards, and if more than one fleece is picked 

 up at the same time it mixes them together and makes it more 

 difficult for the lamb-pickers to sort. In picking or sorting lambs' 

 wool on the station, the sorter should take the bulkiest and lightest 

 wool out of each fleece, which will make the top line. This 

 portion of the lambs' fleece is taken out by lifting the bulk of it with 

 the two hands, as the illustration shows. What little is left can 

 then be quickly picked out, the remaining portion of the fleece 

 consisting mostly of seconds. I have seen lamb-pickers on the 

 station spread the fleece out. This is a slow and difficult way, as 

 Merino lambs seldom hang together, and it is best to disturb 

 them as little as possible, as the free lamb is generally all together 

 when it arrives at the table, and spreading it out only mixes the 

 burry portion of the wool through the free. The spreading out of 



