Flock husbandry in western states. 205 



as the common shearers of the Eastern states. 

 Nor are their sheep as easily shorn as the gen- 

 eral run of farm sheep in the East. Many a 

 careful man has laid the foundation of for- 

 tune by shearing sheep on Western ranges. 

 An old friend of the writer now known and 

 honored throughout all that mountain region 

 and one of the largest sheep owners, began 

 ranch life as a shearer on California ranges. 

 He now owns probably 50,000 sheep of his 

 own. There are now a good many plants 

 whei'e machine shears are in operation and 

 their number is increasing; nevertheless there 

 are many situations where the old hand shears 

 will continue to be used. 



DIPPING. 



Dipping on the range should be a regular 

 yearly or semi-annual practice. When it can 

 be done it should follow shearing. Another 

 practice is to dip when the lambs are weaned 

 in the fall. The dipping is done in a rapid 

 manner by means of very long tanks or swim- 

 ming vats, through which the sheep are swum 

 in rapid succession. A furnace adjacent, with 

 boilers, heats and cooks the dip used. Sev- 

 eral thousands sheep are dipped in a day, ac- 

 cording to the size of the plant. The dip most 

 used is lime and sulphur, which is certainly 

 when rightly compounded an efficient seal? 

 destroyer. 



The writer when engaged in sheep ranching 

 on the hills and mesas of Utah did not use this 

 dip, since it is injurious to the fleece and 

 seemed not to eradicate the disease, but used in- 



