68o 



Suggestions as to Dipping of Sheep, [feb., 



one month or three weeks before lambing with very good re- 

 sults, great care being naturally exercised in handling the ewes. 

 Under these circumstances the sheep must not be turned on to 

 its back, so that the swimming bath is alone suitable for use 

 at this time. Many farmers consider it better to dip at an 

 advanced stage of gestation than earlier. It was observed 

 that where spring dipping of the in-lamb ewes had taken 

 place the lambs were comparatively free from keds ; the 

 destruction of a large proportion, if not all, of the keds on 

 the ewes being the means of keeping down their number on 

 the lambs. Dipping at this time, moreover, by preventing the 

 irritation due to keds, keeps the ewes quieter, and the lambing 

 season is, in consequence, likely to be attended with better 

 results. The lambs grow better, become fatter, and have better 

 fleeces : all points which improve the sale and increase their 

 market value. 



Summer dipping is carried out more or less frequently, 

 according to the conditions of weather and the presence of the 

 fly. In some instances it is found advantageous to dip as often 

 as once a month, or even oftener if the fly is very troublesome. 

 The fly is particularly destructive at low and moderate eleva- 

 tions, especially where plantations, brushwood, or brackens 

 are abundant. Here the sheep may remain hidden and die 

 before they can be found for treatment. For this reason, many 

 sheep owners who have large areas of land to watch over find it 

 cheaper and more practical frequently to collect and dip the 

 sheep as a preventive means. It is stated that when the fly is 

 prevalent the results fully justify this practice. 



On the high hill sheep farms of Scotland, where the fly is 

 either not present, or, at any rate, not sufficiently numerous 

 to be very destructive to the sheep, the flock is not usually 

 dipped till about the middle or end of August, when the 

 lambs are weaned and the general departure of lambs to the 

 various sales takes place. The chief objection advanced by 

 hill farmers to an earlier dipping is that when lambs and ewes 

 are dipped and turned away together they are apt to lose one 

 another, and, consequently, through unrest and want of milk, 

 the lambs lose condition. The natural instinct to find one 

 another seems to be affected by the presence of the dip in the 



