WASHING AND SHEARING SHEEP 299 



such shearing. When they are being fattened for spring 

 sale, they may be shorn earlier than under other condi- 

 tions. The heat induced by the fattening foods fed will 

 result in much discomfort to the sheep, unless the wool 

 is removed, and discomfort always hinders gains where 

 it is present. 



When sheep are washed they cannot be shorn so 

 early as when shorn unwashed, as the washing cannot be 

 done in a large way until the water in which they are to 

 be washed becomes warm. W T hen shorn unwashed, the 

 time of .shearing may be advanced from five to eight weeks. 



If shorn unwashed, the ordinary flock may be shorn 

 as early as April I in the northern states, where ample 

 protection may be furnished to the shorn sheep. Usually, 

 however, the shearing is deferred to a period a little later. 

 The shearing is more frequently deferred to the middle 

 of April, or even to the last half of the month, but it is 

 done proportionately earlier in states that lie southward. 

 When the sheep are washed, they are seldom shorn in the 

 northern states earlier than late May or early June. 



Sheep that are being fattened may usually be shorn 

 with advantage fully two weeks earlier than sheep kept 

 for breeding uses. The necessity for providing exercise 

 for them is not present as it is with breeding flocks, hence 

 after they are shorn they may be kept in the sheds all the 

 time without harm should the weather conditions make 

 such confinement advisable. 



In some instances sheep have been shorn twice a 

 year; such shearing has usually been done in an experi- 

 mental way. The increase has not been such as to justify 

 such shearing, especially in northern areas. It would 

 seem probable that such shearing would be distinctly ad- 

 vantageous in warm areas, as, for instance, the southern 

 states, but this problem does not seem to have been fully 

 worked out there. The season for the first shearing would 

 be early, probably as early as March 1st, and for the sec- 

 ond shearing, about six months later. 



