SHEEP 



613 



The fleeces are tied up and are put 

 in large sacks. For the purpose of 

 sacking, a platform is built with a cir- 

 cular opening, underneath which the 

 sacks are fastened. The wool is thrown 

 into the sacks and is there tramped 

 down until the sacks are filled as full 

 as possible. The sacks contain from 

 300 to 400 pounds. They are then sewed 

 up and are ready for hauling away to 

 market. No sorting of the wool is done 

 on the ranch except that the wool from 

 the black sheep is usually kept separate. 



small flocks as soon as the lambs are 

 dropped. 



The bands are watched nights by a 

 night herder and lambs which may be 

 born then are separated with their 

 mother from the rest of the band, which 

 might otherwise trample the lamb to 

 death. The ewe and lamb are placed 

 in an individual lambing pen of scarcely 

 sufficient size to hold them. Here they 

 are kept for a few hours until it ap- 

 pears that the lamb is owned or moth- 

 ered. 



Fig. 380 — HAND SHEARING MACHINE WITH FLEXIBLE SHAFT 



This brings a little higher price than 

 the white wool. 



Lambing — The lambing season is 

 the earliest period in the year when 

 suitable climate and feeding conditions 

 may be expected. It is not desirable to 

 have the lambs come before grass in the 

 spring, since without green grass ewes 

 do not give sufficient milk. Late snow- 

 storms or cold rains may also seriously 

 increase the death rate of the lambs. 

 At the lambing season a large number 

 of extra men are required, since the 

 h.ands of ewes must be divided up into 



Daytimes a lambing wagon follows 

 each lambing band. The wagon is di- 

 vided into small pens on either side in- 

 to which the lamb and ewe are placed 

 as soon as the lamb is born. When the 

 wagon is full they are hauled to the 

 lambing shed. The ewes with young 

 lambs are kept for the first few days in 

 bands of 25 to 100, usually called lamb- 

 ing bands. These bands are purposely 

 kept small to make sure that the lambs 

 are owned by their mother. Each band 

 is under the care of a herder. Were the 

 ewes and lambs allowed to run in large 



