HOW TO HANDLE AND EXAMINE SHEEP 



371 



the hands. The fingers are extended, but kept close to- 

 gether, and then the hand is pressed down upon the part 

 to be felt. The object in keeping the fingers close together, 

 is twofold. First, one does not make numerous holes in the 

 fleece, as he would in sticking separate fingers into the wool, 

 thereby making openings in which chaff and dirt may lodge. 

 Further, by pressing down on the wool, with the fingers 

 united to form one 

 big finger as it 

 were, the judge 

 may easily feel the 

 outline of the form 

 below. By holding 

 the ends of the 

 f i n g e rs together, 

 one is able to feel 

 over a section of 

 the body, as with a 

 sensitive instru- 

 ment, thus deter- 

 mining, as would 

 not be possible 

 otherwise, the char- 

 acter of covering 

 of fleece and flesh, 

 and the curves and outlines of the body. Sometimes one 

 hand is used, sometimes two, but the man who knows his 

 business never musses the fleece, and when he is done, it is 

 in as good form as before. 



The covering of fleece on the sheep varies greatly, even 

 on the same animal, in length, thickness, quality, etc. One 

 cannot judge with any certainty as to the chajacter of 

 either fleece or body, without a systematic examination by 

 hand and eye. Under ordinary field conditions a sheep will 

 appear quite different from one under show ring con- 

 ditions, with the fleece trimmed by the shears, and blocked 

 out. As one passes among the fitted sheep on the show 



Fig. 202. — "The fingers are extended, but 

 kept close together, and then the hand Is 

 pressed down upon the part to be felt." 



