—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 19,1979
134
Marylanders 9 fleece
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Sheep-shearing time in
Maryland coincides closely
with the state’s tobacco
market auction season,
which opened this year on
April 10 and is scheduled to
run through May 31.
Every year the animal
science department and the
Cooperative Extension
Service at the University of
Maryland, sponsors a two
day sheep-shearing school
on the College Park campus
in early April. This helps to
assure a supply of trained
novices to supplement the
cadre of custom shearers
throughout the state.
This year’s dates were
April 12 and 13. There were
35 students in attendance.
Supervising the shearing
school was Dr. Emory C.
Leffel, Extension sheep
production specialist and
' professor of animal science
in the College of Agriculture.
He was assisted by Dr.
Edwin E. Goodwin,
associate professor of
animal science, who is an
Extension specialist in both
horses and sheep. Dr.
Goodwin ran the sheep
shearing school in earlier
years.
Also assisting was David
L. Greene, an Extension
agricultural science agent at
Westminster (Carroll
County). A 1964 graduate of
the University of Maryland,
Greene was once one of Dr.
Leffel’s students in animal
science classes.
Dr. Leffel notes that a
mjaor objective in shearing
sheep is to preserve the wool
fiber length; to shear close
to the skin and avoid second
cuts in the fleece.
Another objective is to
obtain a fleece that can be
tied, graded, and sorted in
other words, to keep the
fleece intact.
“If we accomplish these
objectives without injury to
the sheep, we have made
progress in learning how to
shear,” the Maryland
specialist declared in a
recent conversation.
He noted that most
shearing cuts are not serious
enough' to warrant
medication. “Beginners
rarely cut sheep badly,” he
remarked.
“But keep a suture needle
and thread handy in case you
do make a deep gash,” he
advised. “And, in warm
weather, apply livestock
spray to keep flies off any
wound.”
Most wool comes from
ewes (adult female sheep).
And, Dr. Leffel reported,
many commercial
producers now favor
shearing just before the
ewes drop their lambs in
early Spring. Often, this
means shearing in January.
However, Leffel thinks
that the traditional April-
May season best suits the
typical part-time producer
and small flock situation
commonly found here in
Maryland and throughout
the Northeast.
He mentioned that
“tagging” is a common
practice that can serve as a
compromise between early
and late shearing. This in
volves trimming off the least
valuable parts of the fleece
in the crotch and behind
the shoulders which tend
at shearing school
Shearing schools have been set up throughout the United States to teach the
art.
to become caked with urine
and manure.
Ewes are often “tagged”
just prior to breeding or
lambing. And feeder lambs
are sometimes “tagged”
when placed in a feedlot.
Most wool in the Old Line
State is marketed nowadays
through the Maryland Wool
Pool, held each year in June.
This year’s dates are June 20
and 21, at the state
fairground in Timonium.
The type of shearing
commonly practiced m
Maryland and most of the
U.S. is the Australian
method, generally regarded
New AFBF radio program seeks
to answer consumer questions
WASHINGTON - Con
sumer information is the
purpose of a new five
minute, tape-recorded
program produced ' i ach
week by the American Farm
Bureau Federation. Joe
Fields, director of broadcast
services, serves as in
terviewer and Sue Palmore,
communications director for
consumer concerns, as the
interviewee. The program is
called “Checkout Line.”
#1 > ;
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as the most humane.
Mexican-style shearing,
often done in Texas, involves
rough handling that is not
appropriate for pregnant
ewes. With this method,
three of the animal’s legs are
tied.
Australians are generally
recognized as the world’s
fastest shearers. And
perhaps they have to be,
since that “down-under”
Commonwealth nation has
the world’s largest sheep
population, by far.
A good Australian shearer
is reportedly able to shear
400 sheep in an eight to 10-
Each program features
factually and consisely-a
topic of consumer interest.
Programs already produced
have been on nitrites,
computer pricing, where the
food dollar goes and dairy
import inspections.
A new taped-message is
available each Thursday at 5
pm. EDT. The five-minute
program contain'- two nnhhc
sheep
*
a- & v*
Wj. >
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hour day, if he has catchers
bringing the sheep to him.
In the western U.S., a good
shearer with one catcher can
shear about half that
number in a similar period.
But top U.S. competitors
at the national sheep
shearing contest can usually
shear a ewe in less than two
minutes. That event is held
each year in late January in
conjunction with the
National Western Livestock
Show at Denver, Colo.
Judging is based on both
speed and quality, of the
shearing.
service announcements,
which local stations may
adapt to their own
programming needs. In
terested stations may get the
“Checkout Line” phone
number from their state
Farm Bureau officer
Listeners inspired with a
question are invited to send
it to: P.O Box 104,
Washington, I) C 20004.
*' ha*
'2*
HOLLAIND
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717 626-7766
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101 South time Street
717-786 g 895
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PO Box 548
717 567 3944
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Rmgtown, PA
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I G 'sAg Sales
‘ Box 149
215 257-5135
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Blue Ridge Fruit Exchange,
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Waynesboro PA
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M S Yearsley & Son
114 116 East Market Street
215 696-2990
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301 658 5568
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