POWER-SPRAY DIP

Chronicle (Levin), 26 February 1947, Page 3

POWER-SPRAY DIP

TEST AT SHANNON

One of the first of the Australian power-spray sheep dips. to be installed on a farm in New Zealand was seen in operation at Kingston Road, Shannon, on Sat- j urday. Nearly 150 farmers attended to see about 100 sheep and lambs put through this 30-sheep model on the farm owned by Mr. | W. N. Norwood, and managed by Mr. A. R. Mills. Points which impressed the farmers present were tne ease with which the sheep could be worked, the apparent thorough wetting of the skin and the economy in the use of dipping mixture. The dip is in a form similar to a corrugated iron tank, cylindricalshaped and with no cover. A tractor is used to supply power for . pumping dip through . spray nozzles set in the concrete floor of the tank, for wetting the underpart of the 30 sheep penned up at a time. Then side and overhead sprays went into action in place of those on the floor, the whole operation taking two to four minutes, according to the growth of the wool. Both sets of nozzles were not turned on at the same time owing to the difficulty the sheep would have had in breathing. The dip drained from the wool passed through a filter before returning to the 400 gallon sump from which it was originally pumped. Points concerning spray dips were outlined by Mr. E. A. Clarke, of Massey Agricultural College, which arranged for the demonstration. Mr. Clarke spoke of their popularity in Australia over recent years, and stated that two obvious advaritages over the swim-through type of dip were the ease of handling the sheep and the fact that they were not knocked about in the process. Other virtues claimed by the users of the spray-type dip were that the mixture did not become fouled so quickly and much less gallonage was needed before dipping could be - commenced. Australian users had proved that the sheep were thoroughly wetted, but it could not be said in this respect that the spray type was any more efficient than that in which the sheep were wholly immersed.