Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 237 



pulled. The time of shearing marks the close of winter and the opening 

 of pasturage, hence shorn sheep are often gaunt, and this is another 

 reason for the lower price. 



Pulled wool has the same uses as ordinary clipped wool. The 

 weight of wool from an average pelt is 4 to 5 pounds. This seems a 

 low figure, but the pelts are scrubbed before pulling, which takes out 

 nearly all the dirt and grease, and causes a decided loss in weight. 



After the wool is pulled, the skins are prepared for the tannery. 

 Untanned sheep and lamb skins have a wide range of value, with an 

 average at the present time of $5.75 per dozen for lamb skins and $8.00 

 for sheep skins. The value depends upon the size, quality, and thick- 

 ness. The Merino yields a thin, porous skin which makes a leather 

 that scuffs easily and wears out very quickly. These bring the lowest 

 price. The best-wearing and highest-priced sheep leather is made from 

 skins of the long-wooled breeds. Sheep leather is used for making 

 cheap shoes, shoe linings, gloves, bags, book bindings, cheap saddles, suit 

 cases, sweat bands for hats, and many other articles. Chamois skins 

 are now made entirely of sheep skins. Goat skins are much in demand 

 for furniture leather and are more valuable than sheep skins. They 

 average a little larger in size than sheep skins and wear much better. 



Other by-products of sheep. — The by-products from the slaughter 

 of sheep may be classed as edible and inedible. The edible by-products 

 include the tongue, which is used for cooking or sausage; the pluck, 

 which is usually ground up and used in different kinds of sausage; and 

 the paunch, about one-half of the paunches being used for tripe, made 

 by boiling and pickling the paunches. The bones, stomach, and any 

 trimmings are tanked, thus extracting fats and oils, and the residue is 

 treated to make glue. The final residue is made into tankage and 

 fertilizer. The blood, dried and ground, makes blood meal and 

 fertilizer. Hard bones yield bone charcoal for bleaching purposes, 

 black pigment for paint, shoeblacking, etc., bone dust for fertilizer, 

 vitrified bone for making glass, cement for billiard balls, and knife 

 handles, combs, buttons, and other articles. The intestines, windpipe, 

 and bladder are cleaned and made into sausage casings. Musical 

 strings, clock cord, and surgical ligature for sewing up wounds, as well 

 as casings for little sausages, are made exclusively from the intestines 

 of sheep. A class of oleo oil is made from the better grade of mutton 

 tallow, and enters into the composition of oleomargarine. Inedible 

 greases are used in soaps. Some valuable chemicals used in medicine 

 are obtained as by-products from sheep. Among these are thyroidin, 

 used as a cure for cretinism, and suprarenalin, a powerful astringent 

 used in cases of severe bleeding. More than 130,000 sheep are required 

 to make a pound of suprarenalin. 



