Breed Ewes Rams Fleece Pounds Pounds Pounds Leicester 185 235 10 Cotswold 200 285 12 Lincoln 250 300 15 Southdown 145 200 6 English Breeds (Mutton) Shropshire 165 215 9 Oxford 220 275 11 Hampshire 200 275 8 Rambouillet Mer. 155 235 18 Amer. Merino A. 105 145 22 ” ” B. 110 155 20 Merino Breeds ” ” C. 125 175 18 (delaine) 2. SHEARING AND MARKETING OF FLEECE WOOL Wool is obtained from the sheep in two ways; it is either shorn from the live animal, or pulled from the skin of the slaughtered carcass. [Sidenote: _Shearing_] [Sidenote: _Australian System_] Shearing was formerly done by hand. An expert was able to clip as many as one hundred head per day, but the average was less than half of that amount. The introduction of machine shearing has made it possible for one man to shear from 175 to 200 sheep in a day, and the fleece is very much more evenly clipped than formerly. Some merino breeds, known as type A, have so many folds of loose skin that machine shearing is not feasible, but except for these animals, and some of the type B or Rambouillet Merinos, almost all sheep are now shorn by machine, that is, where they are raised in numbers. Sheep raising in this country is not pursued with nearly so much care as, for instance, in Australia. There they have huge shearing sheds where the animals are first sweated and then carefully shorn. Whereas here the entire fleece is left in one piece, in Australia the belly is shorn separately and each fleece is carefully skirted, that is, the inferior parts such as the britch are torn off. Then each fleece is folded and tied up and the fleeces are put up in bales. Moreover, a bale usually contains fleeces of the same grade, so that practically nothing but sorting remains to be done by the purchaser. Here, on the other hand, fleeces are shorn in one piece and are folded up carelessly, without skirting. The tying up is frequently done in a slovenly manner, and a bag will very often contain all grades of wool from the finest to the coarsest. Of late years some attempt has been made to install the Australian system, but without much success. [Sidenote: _Seasons_] The shearing season in the northern hemisphere is in the spring, in countries below the equator, except Australia, it is, of course, in our fall. In Texas and California, as well as in some other localities, shearing is frequently done twice a year. [Sidenote: _Marketing_] Roughly speaking, there are seven ways in which the wool grower may dispose of his fleece wool: [Sidenote: _Merchant Buyers_]