. Productive sheep husbandry . Sheep. 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 pla
. Productive sheep husbandry . Sheep. 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 Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectsheep, bookyear1918
