MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



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quis, who for several years held the record for fast shearing, both 

 hand and machine, succeeded in shearing with the machine 360 

 seven-pound fleece wethers in fourteen hours and forty-six minutes. 

 At the World's Fair International Sheep Shearing Contest in St. 

 Louis "Con" Picket sheared three sheep in six minutes and forty 

 seconds with the machine. The same operator at the same place 

 took thirteen ounces of wool from a hand-shorn sheep after the 

 shearer had worked at it for twenty minutes. 



If the right kind of machine is selected and mechanical sense 

 so far as adjusting the tension, etc., is employed, there is no rea- 



son why even a cab-driver or preacher cannot shear sheep with 

 the machine in a most satisfactory way and manner after a little 

 practice. The trouble with too many shearers is they are too 

 parsimonious in regard to oiling and use little sense in the care 

 of the cutters. When it is considered that the cutting plate runs 

 at a very high rate of speed and with more or less dirt to create 

 friction and wear and tear it will be seen that a stinting of oil is 

 a bad thing for the machine and an injustice to the manufacturer. 

 When shearing, the sheep should be placed about a foot to 

 the right of the vertical shaft and an equal distance in front of it. 

 It should be laid gently on its side, being placed in an upright 

 position ready for "opening out." Expert shearers claim that to 



