HOW TO SHEAR A SHEEP.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 215, 21 October 1874, Page 2

HOW TO SHEAR A SHEEP.

First, clean all the points, the crutch and the belly wool, and let this be swept aside and taken away at once by the “ picker up.” Then the neck should be carefully opened, not with the shears slanting, but by small careful blow's, until the wool is parted, and the shearer has secured a good face to his work. The greatest injury to the fleece takes place on the back, and is caused by the operator not raising his hand so as to keep ti e point of his shears close down to the skin, this is known as “ cutting through. ” It takes place when the sheep is shorn on one side, and in shearing over the back the points of the shears cut nearly, or quite through the fleece from the inside to the out; and when the animal is being shorn on the other, or “turning out” side, the shears are again pointed upwards, and the cuts on the first and last sides overlap each other, forming a sort of Vandyke line, and causing the fleece to part in two halves all along the back. This is altogether inexcusable; and no man should be kept in a shed who shears in this way. No good shearer makes second cuts ; the fact that the wool has been left by the first cut proves that the shears have not been handled properly, and the wool thus removed by the second cut is perfectly useless, entails a loss on the manufacturer, and lowers the brand in the market.