Wool-blind Sheep

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31145, 23 August 1966, Page 6

Wool-blind Sheep

Few sheep were blinded by their wool and where the condition was noticed farmers usually trimmed the wool as a matter of course without instructions by agriculture department officers, the senior livestock instructor with the department (Mr J. Gibson) said yesterday. He was replying to a letter to the editor of “The Press” from the head shepherd at the city abattoir, Mr J. S. Jellie, who said he handled up to 6000 sheep a year and he wondered if the officers of the department or the S.P.C.A. ever questioned farmers with wool-blind sheep. Mr Jellie said many laws were passed regarding cruelty to animals and he thought one concerning wool-blind sheep had been overlooked. He thought a farmer could eye-wink his sheep, which would also cause less bruising of sheep while they were transported. Officers did not usually question farmers, but if an obviously wool-blinded sheep was seen running into obstructions the farmer would be advised to deal with it, said Mr Gibson. He had never seen a whole mob of sheep wool blinded, said Mr Gibson. The chairman of the S.P.C.A. council (Mr J. Quickenden) said he agreed with Mr Gibson's remarks.