Art of Getting Sheep into a Dip

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 33 (Supplement)

Art of Getting Sheep into a Dip

Anyone who has dipped sheep knows that Ihe older members of the flock remember the bath. and have the greatest objection to going near it again. Countless schemes have been devised to outwit the sheep and get them into the fluid with a minimum of labour. Most of these work well the first year, but it seems the device has yet to be perfected that will operate successfully year after year. One of the simplest methods is a circular pen from 12 to '6 feet in diameter fitted on a ccntral pivot from which three g'ates are hung so that they can move independently and in a complete circle round the pivot. Each gate has a holt hy which it can be lockcd to the outer wall in ccrtain positions. It works as follows: As the last of the three sections is filled with sheep, the first gate is swung forward compressing the area and forcing its contcnts on to the piatform of the dip thcnce into the fluid. The scconcl gate is then swung forward to deposit its sheep, and. whilo this is happening, the first scction is refilled from the loading race. The process is a continuous one in which there is always one full pen, which helps as a decoy. one pen being emptied and one in process of filling. Turntablc Device. A more elaborate modification of this system is to have four fixed gates in the form of hurdles and to make the floor moveahle. This means that once the sheep are on the turntable pen they can no longer resist and are carried forward as required towards the dip. A further improvement consists in making four gates moveahle so that emptying is expedited by pulling the gate round like a sweep. Some methods are anything but good for the sheep. They tumble them into the dip in a gasping heap causing the lower ones to be bruised and submeiged. The tip-platform is the worst offender when it is badly designed, too high above the fluid, or too close to the opposite side. In operating a tip-platform, the sheep should not be suddenly dumped into the dip, but should be gradually slid off the piatform. For this reason, the tipping portion should be nicely balanced and should be under control all the time. Moreover, it should not hold too many sheep at a time. Slip-in is Quick. A type of entrance growing in popularity is known as the "slip-in" or "sidedelivery." It is a smooth plate either of wood or of metal which slopes steeply into the bath. A decoy pen, guarded by wire-netting. is often placed' on the further side of the dip. Its method of operation is that the sheep try to get across to the ones in the decoy pen and in doing so slip sideways down the plate into the bath. A fourth common method is the "walk-in" type. It is really applicable only to the swim-through form of bath. When first introduced it was claimed that the sheep would eagerly swim through one after the other on the follow-the-leader principle. In practice, however, a decided push is usually required especially with older sheep who "have been had before." In this type of dip the sheep get less rough handling and their mode of entry is as natural as possible. They simply walk down a slope and then start swimming.