SHEARERS 413 



On the whole shearers in the West do fair work, but long, ugly 

 cuts in the skin should be matters of less occurrence than they are. 

 Then, too, shearers are too careless in catching their sheep and 

 setting them down. In plants having machines, particularly, the 

 shearer retains his hold on the shearing shaft and brings his sheep 

 down by grasping a hind leg and giving the animal a vicious swing. 

 Such handling should not be tolerated and it is no wonder that 

 those who practice having their ewes shorn while pregnant do not 

 like to place them in plants where machines are used. In a few sheds 

 recently constructed according to the general plan used in Australia, 

 swinging doors between the shearing floor and the sheep make it 



FiQ. 229. — Shearing shed at Bitter Creek. Wyoming, modeled after a type common 



in Australia. 



impossible for the shearer to drag a sheep in by the leg. He must 

 pick it up and carry it in. This clever arrangement of doors should 

 be greatly appreciated by sheepmen (Fig. 229). 



Shearers. — Operators of shearing plants often have difficulty 

 with shearers. The shearers lead a more or less nomadic life and 

 if thej hear of better wages further on in the way of more money 

 for each sheep shorn or of easier shearing, they are likely to leave 

 the plant before the shearing season is over. The operators have 

 been forced to protect themselves by requiring the shearers to sign 

 a contract which keeps them on the job till the last band of sheep 

 contracted for has been through the pens. 



Sheep shearing is hard work and it requires strong men whose 

 backs are as untiring as springs of steel. They must be well fed 

 and comfortably quartered. Since they live a nomadic life they are 

 not given to accumulating much, for gambling is a game which puts 

 their wages in the hands of the few who are cleverer at it than 

 the rest. 



