SHEARING. 159 



time will be well employed. The shearer has better control over 

 the sheep when en the floor than on the bench, and the handling 

 is not the same under both circumstances. In shearing on a bench 

 the shearer catches the sheep by ths left hind leg, backs it towards 

 the bench, and rolls it over upon it. He then sets the sheep on its 

 rump, and standing with his left foot upon the bench, lays the 

 sheep's neck across his left knee, with its right side against his 

 body. The two forelegs are then taken under the left arm, and 

 the fleece is opened up and down along the center of the belly by 

 small short clips with the shears. The left side of the belly and 

 brisket arc then sheared. The tags are clipped from the inside of 

 the hind legs and about the breech, and thrown upon the floor. 

 They should be swept up at once and gathered into a basket, and 

 by no means allowed to mingle with the fleece wool. The breech 

 is then shorn as far as can be reached. The wool from the point 

 of the shoulder is then clipped as far as the but of the ear. The 

 wool is shorn around the carcass and reck to the foretop, pro- 

 ceeding down the side, taking the foreleg and going as far over 

 the back as possible, which will be two or three inches past the 

 back bone. When the joint of the thigh, (the stifle), is reached, 

 the shears are inserted at the inside of the hock and the wool shorn 

 around the leg back to the thigh joint. The wool over the rump 

 is then shorn past the tail. The sheep is now completely shorn 

 on one side, and two or three inches over on the other side, along 

 the back from neck to tail. It is then taken by the left hind 

 leg, and swung around with the back to the shearer, leaving 

 some wool beneath the left hip, which will ease the position of the 

 animal, and keep it more quiet. The wool is then shorn from the 

 head and neck down the right side, taking the legs and brisket on 

 the way. The fleece is now separated. The job is completed 

 by clipping the tags and loose locks from the legs. 



To shear on the floor, the sheep is set upon its rump, with the 

 head thrown back beneath tl c left arm of the shearer, and its 

 back toward him. The wool is then opened at the neck, and 

 clipped downwards in regular lines on the right side from belly to 

 back, and over the spine as far as possible on the other side in 

 much the same manner as has already been described. The sheep 

 is then laid on its shorn side, and the shearer, kneeling on the left 

 knee, and straddling the sheep, with the left foot laid over the 

 sheep's neck, removes the fleece from the left side, and finishes 

 by removing tag locks from the legs and scrotum. In bad shear- 

 ing, the greatest injury to the fleece takes place on the back, and is 

 caused by the operator not raising his hand^ so as to keep the 



