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Ch. 7: Industry, Agriculture NSW

Ch. 7: Industry, Agriculture NSW Page of 225 Ch. 7: Industry, Agriculture NSW Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
112                                           SHEARING.
time with the shepherd, and is a test of his skill and vigilance, no small difficulty being sometimes encountered in getting ewes to take to their lambs, a considerable inducement thereto being to rub the lambs with salt, of which sheep are fond. It is common to allow a premium to those shepherds who rear the most lambs. From eighty to ninety lambs reared from every hundred ewes is considered creditable to the shepherd. The number of lambs reared sometimes, though seldom, equals the number of the sheep. The lambs are weaned at from five to six months old, all the males of several flocks being put to­gether to form a wether flock, and all the females to form a future breeding flock. The ewes breed at eighteen months old.
Shearing time is in November. The sheep are first washed, and then left for three or four days to dry, and to permit the grease to rise from the animal's body into the wool, thus giving it weight and softness. After washing, care must be taken not to pasture the sheep on unclean ground, as the wool would be injured in consequence. Shearing is performed in large sheds, which keep out both rain and heat. One man will shear three score per day, at the rate of two or three shillings per score, with his board. Shearing is a separate occupation, men travel­ling from station to station for the purpose. As the fleeces are detached from the sheep, they are pressed into bales, as they arrive in England. Each bale contains about 100 fleeces, or 250 lbs. of wool. The wool-pack is placed empty in a strong box, and the fleeces are trampled down as closely as possible as they are put into the pack.
The next step is to convey the wool to market; this is done in bullock drays, which will convey from fifteen to twenty bales each. On arriving at Sydney, the bullocks are slaugh­tered, and the drays sold, with the exception of those necessary to carry back the next year's supplies.
It would be impossible to give, in the present condition of the colony, anything like a correct idea of the rate of wages. At present, the wages of shepherds are such na would preclude
Ch. 7: Industry, Agriculture NSW Page of 225 Ch. 7: Industry, Agriculture NSW
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