Wool Production 237 



pen. In some sheds two shearers use one catching pen 

 and in others each shearer has his own. The door leading 

 from the shearer's stand to the catching pen is immediately 

 back of the shearer and the opening of the chute leading 

 to the tally pens is directly beside it. The shearing 

 board and skirter's tables and the classer's table are all 

 one room. The light of this part of the shed comes from 

 above and is .plentiful. The bins for the various classes 

 of wool have doors on the side opposite from the classer's 

 table, which can be locked. This prevents the packing 

 of any wool until the classer thinks that it is sufficiently 

 cooled. The wool room is located back of the bins and 

 is for the storage of wool after it is packed. The counting 

 or tally pens are outside the shed. These are pens to 

 hold the sheep after shearing. At regular times during 

 the day the sheep are here counted and the shearer receives 

 credit on the basis of this count. 



According to the Australian method, the sheep before 

 shearing are divided into the following bands : rams, 

 wethers, wet ewes, dry ewes, and hoggets or sheep to 

 be shorn the first time. The reason for this division of 

 the flock at this time is because there are differences in 

 the fleeces that come from these classes of sheep. For 

 instance, the belly wool from the wether is far inferior to 

 that of the ewe, due to the different arrangement of the 

 sex organs. The fleece of the wet ewe, or one suckling 

 a lamb, is inferior to that of a dry ewe. Hoggets have a 

 tapering fiber, and consequently their wool is more valu- 

 able, as it will spin to a finer yarn. 



On arriving at the shed, each band is placed in the sweat- 

 ing room for two or three hours. The temperature of this 

 room should be such that the yolk, or natural oil of the 

 sheep, will travel outward through the internal channels 



