BRANDING SHEEP

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 520, 24 November 1928, Page 27

BRANDING SHEEP

RESULTS OF TESTS MOST FLUIDS SUITABLE question of deleterious sheepbranding fluids has been under notice for some time, and the Department of Agriculture has collected samples of all the commercial branding fluids on the New Zealand market. These samples have been examined by the chief chemist and practical tests also carried out. In the examination of the various fluids the chief chemist was unable to find any trace of tar or of the derivatives of tar, although reports from Great Britain stated that tar and paint were being used. Iu this connection it might be mentioned that both the department and wool merchants, too, have discountenanced the use of tar and paint as a wool orand, and for some years now these materials have been out of use. Many samples of wool alleged to have been damaged by the branding material have been forwarded to the department, and it has been found that the fluid is not so much to blame as is the carelessness of some of the users in not seeing to it that the directions printed on the container have been properly carried out before being used to brand the sheep, the result being that when some of the fluid is poured out from the top of the container the mixture would show about 70 per cent, oil and 30 per cent, colouring; half way down the container would show about 50 per cent, of each, but as the container was being emptied and near to the bottom the mixture would show 25 per cent, to 30 per cent, oil and 75 per cent, to 70 per cent, colouring. It is quite probable that at times there is less than this percentage of oil and a~larger percentage of colouring in the bottom of the container, and it is this which is the cause of several complaints against sheep-branding fluids. All standard bra-ds of fluid so far examined are quite reliable if properly used, but the trouble complained of is probably due to the failure to keep the fluid properly mixed, with the result that some is applied in a thick mass. In the scouring tests in every case the compound when not applied too heavily scoured out readily. Where the fluid has been applied as a thick deposit, however, scouring was more difficult, but in no case was it found impossible to remove all traces of the brand altogether. Sometimes a mark will not come out with ordinary scouring, but it is found that immersion in a suitable solvent dissolves the vehicle and loosens the pigment, so that subsequent scouring becomes easy. Any sheep sold in saleyards should be branded with a recognised sheepbranding fluid, and paint of any description should not be allowed to be used for this purpose.