SHEEP 



619 



not take place until June, when the 

 lambing season should be over. 



Clean wool — Great care must be taken 

 in the winter feeding of sheep and hous- 

 ing to prevent the wool from becoming 

 filled with chaff, burs, etc. The wool 

 is valued always on the basis of its 

 scoured weight, and the buyer always 

 allows for whatever dirt may be present 

 in it. The wool of sheep that have ac- 

 cess to a straw stack in winter is likely 

 to be filled with chaff and will not bring 



Tying wool — Sheep should be sheared 

 on a clean floor or bench, free from dust, 

 chaff or other litter in order that the 

 fleece may be kept perfectly clean. If 

 the wool is put in sacks or bales, no 

 tying is required. Otherwise, the sides 

 of the fleeces should be turned in and 

 the fleece rolled together inside out and 

 tied with a light, strong string, using 

 as little as possible to securely hold the 

 fleece together. The use of common, 

 heavy, large sized sheep twine is espe- 



~F'lg. 385 — GOAT KIDS IN" CORRAL 

 (From U. S. Dept. Agric. Year Book) 



within 2 to 5 cents a pound as much as 

 it would if the wool was free from chaff. 

 Likewise wool which is full of sand or 

 burs is docked by the buyer. The dock- 

 age is not so much on account of the 

 weight of the burs and chaff itself, as 

 of the difficulty in separating these sub- 

 stances from the fleece. This is usually 

 a very tedious and expensive process and 

 cannot be done without more or less in- 

 jury to the wool fiber. Racks should be 

 provided for sheep, at which tbey may 

 eat without getting their necks full of 

 chaff, seeds and dust. 



cially objectionable, not so much be- 

 cause it increases the weight of the fleece 

 2 or 3 ounces, but because the fiber 

 becomes mixed with the wool and must 

 be combed out before the wool can be 

 used for manufacturing. Mumford 

 found that the lower price of Michigan 

 wools as compared with Pennsylvania 

 and Ohio wools was largely due to the 

 old square method of doing up the fleece 

 and the use of heavy, coarse sheep twine 

 in tying it. 



The best twine to use is about No. 18 

 hemp or small linen. If the box is used 



