226 



Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



are kept, although some fleeces, on account of their oihness and density, 

 tend to keep free from foreign material, while others, on account of 

 their open, dry, fluffy character, offer no resistance to the entrance of 

 foreign matter. 



By purity of fleece is meant its freedom from hair, called "kemp," 

 and from dead fibers. With unfavorable conditions of keep and in- 

 ferior breeding there is often a reversion of the fleece to the covering 

 worn by early sheep; that is, hair begins to appear in place of wool. 

 Dead fibers and kemp do not absorb dyes, hence they injure the cloths 

 into which they find their way. 



Fig. 76. — Determining the age of sheep from the teeth. Upper left, lamb; all 

 the teeth being temporary or milk teeth. Lower left, yearling; center pair of tem- 

 porary incisors replaced by larger permanent incisors. Upper right, two-year-old: 

 two pairs of permanent incisors. Lower right, four-year-old; four pairs of permanent 

 incisors. The lamb and yearling were photographed directly from in front. The 

 two-year-old and four-year-old were photographed to show the side of the mouth. 

 The photographs were not made to the same scale. 



The fleece is said to have freeness when the locks and fibers are 

 not entangled, but part off readily from one another. When the fibers 

 are tangled, or matted together, the fleece is said to be "cotted." 



A fleece with uniformity is one^ having sameness in character 

 throughout. Although there is a natural tendency for the wool on 

 different parts to vary in density, length, and fineness, the aim of the 

 breeder is to produce a fleece as nearly uniform throughout as possible. 



