Fitting Sheep for the Show Ring. 187 



ling of them to find all deficiencies, but it would 

 of course mislead a less experienced man and he 

 ought not to undertake to judge sheep at fairs at 

 all. Trimming sheep is done simply to have them 

 look better when on exhibition, just as men and 

 women wear their best clothes when going to a 

 party. 



Trimming sheep should begin just as soon as the 

 wool has grown to such a length that it may be 

 worked upon with the hand shears. The old hand 

 shears, well sharpened and handled by a man who 

 understands his work, will do the task satisfac- 

 torily. Two or three trimmings will put the sheep 

 in fine shape. For this purpose, we need a pail 

 of water, a coarse stubble brush to roughen up the 

 wool, and a finer brush with which the wool is 

 wet and brought to the surface. A wet woolen 

 rag is often useful in sponging off the wool to make 

 it fluffy and to free it from dirt which dulls the 

 shears. A halter is also required with which to 

 tie the sheep to a post or fence. Sheep will nat- 

 urally stand more quietly than lambs. In trim- 

 ming the animal begin on the top of its shoulder, 

 working backward to the hips and tail. Try to get 

 the back straight. Now the rear end must be 

 trimmed to correspond with the back^ and next the 

 left side from the shoulder back to the thigh. The 

 right side comes then, starting from the thigh for- 



