92 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



presence, for the reason that they have longer wool at 

 that season than the old sheep. The remedy consists of 

 keeping the flock, if possible, on other pastures until the 

 needles fall to the ground. If the grass that produces 

 them was cut sufficiently early they would not mature 

 any seed, but on the range this would not be practicable. 

 Should the wool be infested with the needles, removing 

 the fleece will prevent further harm. This grass and 

 nearly all kinds of plants that thus injure wool are easily 

 destroyed by careful cultivation. 



Injury from chaff and broken pieces of straw comes 

 from sheep feeding from improperly constructed racks, 

 and at the sides of unfenced stacks. When thus feeding, 

 chaff, short pieces of straw and dust fall down upon the 

 backs of the sheep and work their way into the wool. 

 The wool on the top of the neck and shoulders is natu- 

 rally the most injured by these substances. That of the 

 long wooled breeds takes the greatest harm, since it is 

 the most open, and that of the fine wooled breeds the 

 least, since it is the most dense. The remedy is plain. It 

 is to provide properly constructed racks and to prevent 

 sheep from feeding at stacks of any kind. 



Sheep sometimes lose more or less of their wool, 

 especially in the winter season. This may result from 

 undue exposure, as when the wool drops off the outer 

 portions of the wrinkles in Merinos which have been 

 chilled. It may result from housing overwarm, which 

 produces a fevered condition of the system, sometimes 

 aggravated by constipation resulting from the food fed. 

 It may also result from certain forms of disease, which 

 also tend to produce the fevered condition referred to. In 

 some instances sheep will pull out more or less of the 

 wool from the bodies of the others. Such a condition 

 usually evidences something lacking in the food. Should 

 the habit become confirmed, which it does in rare in- 

 stances, those addicted to it should be sent to the block. 



