72 Dipping. 



that a proportion of most dipping preparations is not 

 intended to dissolve at once in the dipping bath. By 

 sufficiently stirring, the still undissolved particles are 

 kept in suspension, and are thus carried out by each 

 sheep, and, becoming dried on the fleece, afterwards help 

 to preserve it from re-infestation for as many months as 

 possible. If sediment is found in the bath after dipping, 

 apart from the droppings of the sheep, one may rest 

 assured that he has been proportionately neglectful in 

 this respect. Another important point in securing the 

 best results is that sheep should have sufficient growth 

 of fleece to enable them to carry out of the bath enough 

 dip to insure protection, and, therefore, two months 

 after shearing should be the minimum interval before 

 dipping. It is also importantly necessary to be most 

 careful to insure sufficient immersion. Merely wetting 

 sheep instead of dipping them yields only trivial results. 

 The fleece and the insects infesting it must be thoroughly 

 soaked, otherwise the insects quickly regain the chance 

 of resuming their annoyances and depredations. In 

 carrying out these requirements little is added to the 

 labour of dipping, but much to the profit which dipping 

 yields. The waste from careless dipping aggregates an 

 immense annual loss to the sheep farming industry. 



Not only is care necessary in conducting the opera- 

 tion, but also in selecting such weather conditions that 

 are not detrimental to the realisation of best results. 

 Should, for instance, heavy rain fall on newly dipped 

 sheep and before the dip has dried on to them, a large 

 proportion of the remedy will be washed away, and the 

 consequent effect of the work be rendered more or less 

 transient. To regain lasting results in such instances 

 sheep would require re-dipping at reduced strength, but 

 not within three weeks after the first dipping. While 

 rain has this detrimental effect on newly dipped sheep, 

 if it falls instead some time after the dipping it greatly 

 enhances the effect in re-wetting the fleece, and so reviv- 



