Care and Management of Sheep 251 
in a similar manner, all the time exercising much care in keeping 
the fleece together. Care must be exercised not to cut too deep 
at one strike, or the sheep will not be smooth. The points of the 
shears must be kept close to the hide, otherwise a second stroke 
will be necessary, which injures the wool and takes much time. 
For the beginner to shear a sheep by hand is really a very 
difficult task, and if the sheep be a fine-wool, the task is still 
greater. 
406. Machinery shearing. — Shearing sheep with a machine is 
a much more easy task than shearing by hand, and the beginner 
can do better work with it. On the market there are both hand 
and power machines, but on the average farm the hand machine 
is, of course, the one to use. To operate the machine requires 
two men or a man and boy, — one to turn the machine, the other 
to shear the sheep. If available, the beginner should take a coarse- 
wooled sheep, as the fine-wools are more difficult to shear. With 
a rather coarse-wooled sheep, one can follow the directions that 
come with the machine, and shear the sheep, even though he has 
never seen the operation (Figs. 101, 102, 103). 
407. Tying the wool. — The fleece is rolled with the belly and 
loose ends inside, the cut ends out. All very dirty pieces should be 
removed and never tied up in the wool. Special wool twine should 
be used to tie the fleece, as binder twine greatly injures the wool, 
for small bits of the fiber often get into the fleece, and, not taking 
the dyes, must be picked out by hand. 
Later, the wool is packed in large sacks for shipment. In filling 
the large bags care should be exercised to see that the wool is 
well packed and the corners all well filled. After being packed 
full the bags are sewed at the top. If stored, the wool should be 
put in a dry place where there is no danger of mice cutting the 
“bags and building nests of the wool. 
408. Docking the lambs. — Unless the lambs are to be sent to 
market under three months of age, they should have the tail re- 
moved. The tail is of no use to the sheep and is likely to become 
