1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
178 
Sheep Washing. 
It is a matter of some dispute amongst sheep 
owners whether it is better to wash the wool upon 
the sheep’s back, or to shear the unwashed fleeces 
and sell them thus Having tried both plans, we have 
concluded that the former 
is to be preferred as be¬ 
ing the most profitable. 
Wool buyers generally de¬ 
duct one-third for the loss 
by reason of waste in un¬ 
washed wool, and unless 
the fleeces are very oily 
and mixed with sand and 
filth, much more than 
should ever be permitted, 
this deduction is greater 
than the loss from wash¬ 
ing, except with very 
yolky Merino sheep. This 
class of sheep may be 
profitably sheared without 
washing, so long as buyers 
do not object to 50 per¬ 
cent or more of grease and 
yolk, and do not deduct 
more thai one-third on ac¬ 
count of it. The usual 
method of Washing sheep, 
known as brook washing, 
shown in the upper en¬ 
graving, is the most con¬ 
venient for small flocks. 
For this a clean gravelly- 
bottomed portion of a 
stream is selected, where 
the banks are covered 
with a firm grassy sod, 
and a pen of rails or boards is made upon the 
bank, into which the sheep are gathered. The 
washing should be postponed until the weather is 
warm, and if it can be done the day following a 
warm steady rain, the fleeces will be washed more 
quickly and easily, because the dirt in them will 
be moist and softened. Ewes which are in-lamb 
should not be washed, lest their struggles, or the 
chill following the washing, should injure them. A 
period of ten days, at least, should elapse after the 
washing before the sheep are shorn, so that the wool 
may regain its softness __.. 
through the renewed natu¬ 
ral secretion of yolk and 
oil from the sheep’s skin. 
For large flocks a differ¬ 
ent method, by which the 
sheep may be more quick¬ 
ly handled, must be adopt¬ 
ed. The second illustra¬ 
tion represents the man¬ 
ner of washing the large 
flocks common in Austra¬ 
lia, and may be easily 
adopted in our western 
regions where many sheep 
are kept. A corral is 
made on the bank of a 
suitable stream, and a 
passage way runs from 
this to the water. This 
passage-way slopes rapid¬ 
ly from the bank to the 
water, so that the sheep, 
arrived at the passage, 
cannot avoid plunging 
into the stream. Here 
they are seized by the 
washers, and when their 
fleeces are cleansed, they 
go out of the stream on to 
the opposite bank. Fifteen 
or twenty washers will be 
able to thoroughly cleanse 
3,000 sheep in one day, if the arrangements are 
roomy enough to accommodate them, and two 
shepherds will be able to arrange the sheep on the 
bank. One boy should be on hand to assist any 
sheep that may need help to regain its feet upon 
the bank, as it emerges with its fleece heavy and 
water soaked. The illustration shows the arrange¬ 
ment needed. An abruptly sloping bank upon one 
side, and a gently inclining one upon the other 
should be chosen. Such banks are everywhere 
found in the bends of streams, and if the water is 
WASHING A SMALL FLOCK. 
deep enough to float the sheep, it is all the better. 
The sheep are collected in a large pen near the bank 
of the stream. In front of the large pen is a small¬ 
er one, which will hold -a hundred sheep, and to 
which the sheep are admitted by a gate. When 
this pen is filled, a shepherd is stationed at a gate 
in the front of it, which opens on to a platform 
sloping to the water’s edge. A small pen is made 
at the lower end of this platform, in which a few 
sheep are confined. These are used for the purpose 
of decoys, and the sheep in the second pen seeing 
WASHING A LARGE FLOCK. 
these decoys, when the gate is opened, readily pass 
out on to the platform. Here they have no footing, 
and are obliged to run down into the water, where 
they are seized by the men awaiting them, and 
washed. The duty of the shepherd at the gate, is 
to permit so many sheep as can be taken care of, to 
pass out of the gate at one time, when he closes it 
until more are needed. If there are enough men in 
the stream to wash the sheep with sufficient rapidi¬ 
ty, the shepherd may keep a constant stream of 
them passing down the platform, and when they 
reach the water they are 
passed from hand to hand 
across the stream, until 
the fleece is cleansed. 
When the sheep are near¬ 
ly all out of the second 
pen, a fresh supply is ad¬ 
mitted. By leaving a few 
in the pen, the sheep 
from the first pen do not 
hesitate to enter it, and 
there is less trouble in 
handling the sheep. For 
this reason it is thought 
best to have a number of 
moderate sized pens suc¬ 
ceeding, and opening into 
each other, rather than to 
have a single large one 
which will hold all the 
sheep. To facilitate the 
labor of washing sheep, 
a water engine or force 
pump has been manu¬ 
factured in Australia. 
This engine is much like 
one of our fire engines, 
but has a number of out¬ 
lets instead of one, to each 
of which is attached a 
hose with a nozzle. The 
sheep are drenched by 
streams of water forced 
upon them through the nozzles; the wool is allow¬ 
ed to soak for a time, when a final drenching and 
washing is given to it. The sheep are confined, 
while being washed, in a pen with a sparred floor, 
through which the water is drained off. 
After they are washed, the sheep should never 
be exposed to cold winds without shelter. If the 
weather be unfavorable, small flocks should be 
housed, or kept in a yard for a day or two, and large 
flocks should be driven to a portion of the pasture, 
where they may have the shelter of a bluff, or of a 
plantation of timber, as 
a protection against the 
wind. Catarrh and pneu¬ 
monia are the diseases 
which usually follow un¬ 
due exposure after wash¬ 
ing, and from the peculiar 
nature of these animals, 
they rarely recover from 
the latter disease, which 
may very easily follow a 
neglected attack of the 
former. The best thing 
to be done is to prevent 
the trouble by leaving the 
washing and shearing un¬ 
til the weather becomes 
settled and warm, and 
by protecting the sheep, 
should an adverse change 
occur immediately after¬ 
wards. There is more 
danger to sheep with open 
fleeces, as those of the 
long-wooled breeds, than 
with Merinos or South- 
downs. In the latter the 
close fleece prevents the 
rapid evaporation of the 
moisture in the wool, and 
it is the evaporation that 
is caused by winds that is 
dangerous. Slow drying 
by the warm sun is not injurious, it is from the cold 
dry winds that the greatest injury is to be feared, 
and when these occur after washing, shelter should 
always be provided in sheds or fenced yards. 
