MACHINE SHEEP-SHEARING.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 4 October 1917, Page 3

MACHINE SHEEP-SHEARING.

AND NATIONAL EFFICIENCY.

J. L. Bruce, Assistant Director, Live-Stock Division, in The Journal of Agriculture.

IN addition to the military service of many thousands of gallant men who have gone and are. going to "do their bit". at the front, a solid task remains for those of us who must stay behind and that lies in increased production from the land. With the shortage of men this can only be done by " efficiency," in making use to the fullest, extent of every appliance which science and invention have placed at our disposal. There are many directions in which the use of laboursaving appliances could be introduced into our agricultural and pastoral operations. One of these, although rapidly coming into general use, should, in the writer's opinion, become universal. Shearing machines are referred to. The majority of the larger sheep-owners in this country have come to recognise the advantages of " machines " over " blades." This has been partly, in the first instance, brought about through the difficulty in obtaining good blade shearers. After a season's trial it was found that the use of machines was a highly profitable investment, owing to increased clip (particularly in the first season), better work, quicker despatch, and less knocking about of sheep. Furthermore, the shearers can earn 20 to 40 per cent more money with less exertion, and there is also no scarcity of learners, who soon acquire the art of handling the machines. Under present conditions blade shearers are becoming more difficult to obtain each year, and the small sheepowner has difficulty in getting his sheep shorn. The question thus arises, Should not every sheepowner instal shearing-machines ? Some may say, " I am gettingalong all right without them " ; and others, " Will it pay ?" The former may be asked how long he is sure of being able to get along without them. When unable to do the work himself he will then feel the pinch, and in any case it pays to machine-shear. Some may advocate co-operative ownership of a shearing plant where a number of small holdings adjoin. This plan may look well in theory, but is as a rule disappointing in practice. Another method is a travelling plant. This has. many points to commend it, and is preferable to the former plan; but, all things taken into consideration, every man with, say, 200 sheep or more should posses his own plant. He can purchase and have erected in his shed a two-stand plant with 1M h.p engine at a cost of from £110 (engine £50, plant £60), and if short of ready cash he can obtain most liberal terms. W^ith £10 worth of extra wool (at present prices) from his first clip with the machine, and prices 55 per cent over those received for the 1913-14 season, upon an 81b to 91b clip he will have more than half paid for his machine the first season. A larger engine than a VA, h.p would, however, be desirable, even for a small number of sheep. A light engine is equal to driving the machines, but with, say, a 2J4 h.p e.ngine at about £70, or even a 4 h.p engine at about £90, the extra expense would in most cases well repay the owner. There is nothing more useful about a farm than cheap and effective motive power, and either of the stronger engines, preferably the 4 h.p, can be used for chaff-cutting, woodsawing, pumping water, etc. The crux of the matter is that in the present crisis it is our duty to avail ourselves of every method which will assist towards national efficiency, and in this unequalled pastoral country, with its twenty-five million sheep, the shearing-machine must play a very important part.