An assistant should catch the sheep and hold them while they are tagged. The latter process requires a good shearer, as the wool must be cut off closely and smoothly, or the object is but half accomplished, and the sheep will have an unsightly and ridiculous appearance when the remainder of their fleeces is taken off; while, on the other hand, it is not only improper to cut the skin of a sheep at any time, but it is peculiarly so to cut that or the bag of a ewe when near lambing. The wool saved by tagging will far more than pay the expenses of the operation. It answers well for stockings and other domestic purposes, or it will sell for nearly half the price of fleece-wool.
Care should be exercised at all times in handling sheep, especially ewes heavy with lamb. It is highly injurious and unsafe to chase them about and handle them roughly; for, even if abortion, the worst consequence of such treatment, is avoided, they become timid and shy of being touched, rendering it difficult to catch them or render them assistance at the lambing period, and even a matter of difficulty to enter the cotes, in which it is sometimes necessary to confine them at that time, without having them driving about pell-mell, running over their lambs, etc. If a sheep is suddenly caught by the wool on her running, or is lifted by the wool, the skin is to a certain extent loosened from the body at the points where it is thus seized; and, if killed a day or two afterward, blood will be found settled about those parts.
When sheep are to be handled, they should be inclosed in a yard just large enough to hold them without their being crowded, so that they shall have no chance to run and dash about. The catcher should stop them by seizing them by the hind-leg just above the hock, or by clapping one hand before the neck and the other behind the buttocks. Then, not waiting for the sheep to make a violent struggle, he should throw its right arm over and about immediately back of the shoulders, place his hand on the brisket, and lift the animal on his hip. If the sheep is very heavy, he can throw both arms around it, clasp his fingers under the brisket, and lift it up against the front part of his body. He should then set it carefully on its rump upon the tagging-table, which should be eighteen or twenty inches high, support its back with his legs, and hold it gently and conveniently until the tagger has performed his duty. Two men should not be allowed to lift the same sheep together, as it will be pretty sure to receive some strain between them. A good shearer and assistant will tag two hundred sheep per day.
When sheep receive green feed all the year round—as they do in many parts of the South—and no purging ensues from eating the newly-starting grasses in the spring, tagging is unnecessary.
WASHING.
Many judicious farmers object to washing sheep, on account of its tendency to produce colds and catarrhal affections, to which this animal is particularly subject; but it cannot well be dispensed with, as the wool is always rendered more salable; and if the operation is carefully done, it need not be attended with injury.
Mr. Randall, the extensive sheep-breeder of Texas, states that he does not wash his sheep at all, for what he deems good reasons. About the middle of April, or at the time when one-half of the ewes have young lambs at their sides, and the balance about to drop, would be the only time in that region when he could wash them. At this period he would not race or worry his ewes at all, on any account; as they should be troubled as little as possible, and no advantage to the fleece from washing could compensate for the injury to the animal. In his high mountain-region, lambing-time could not prudently come before the latter part of March or April—the very period when washing and shearing must be commenced—since in February, and even up to the fifteenth or twentieth of March, there is much bad weather, and a single cold, rainy or sleety norther would carry off one-half of the lambs dropped during its continuance.
In most of that portion of the United States lying north of forty degrees, the washing is performed from the middle of May till the first of June, according to the season and climate. When the streams are hard, which is frequently the case in limestone regions, it is better to attend to it immediately after an abundant rain, which proportionately lessens the lime derived from the springs. The climate of the Southern States would admit of an earlier time. The rule should be to wait until the water has acquired sufficient warmth for bathing, and until cold rains and storms and cold nights are no longer to be expected.
The practice of a large majority of farmers is to drive their sheep to the watering-ground early in the morning, on a warm day, leaving the lambs behind. The sheep are confined on the bank of the stream by a temporary enclosure, from which they are taken, and, if not too heavy, carried into water sufficiently deep to prevent their touching bottom. They are then washed, by gently squeezing the fleece with the hands, after which they are led ashore, and as much of the water pressed out as possible before letting them go, as the great weight retained in the wool frequently staggers and throws them down.