Shearing and Dipping the Flock. 97 



their lambs naturally stay at their side. The old 

 sheep, being well protected by their fleeces, do 

 not mind the rain or the cold, but the young lamb 

 with its short wool gets chilled or wet to the skin 

 and catches cold, this often bringing on pneu- 

 monia and finally resulting in the death of the 

 lamb. On the other hand, if the old sheep have 

 been sheared at this time and the barn doors are 

 left open for them, they will run to the barn and 

 seek shelter just as soon as it turns cold or begins 

 to rain, thereby protecting not only themselves 

 but also their lambs. Some of our best sheep 

 breeders favor shearing before lambing, and keep 

 up this practice each year. Of course, these men 

 do their shearing themselves and in the most care- 

 ful manner. 



When ewes are sheared before lambing, only 

 the most competent and careful shearers should 

 ever perform the work, and even such men must 

 use extreme care and patience to make sure that 

 none of the ewes heavy with lamb are injured, re- 

 sulting in abortion. Therefore, unless the most 

 competent and painstaking shearers can be se- 

 cured, in spite of the advantages of shearing be- 

 fore lambing, the writer would in general advise 

 that ewes lamb before being sheared. However, 

 when ewes are due to lamb late in the season it 

 may be best to shear them before they lamb. 



