A SHEEP’S SKIN

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 57

A SHEEP’S SKIN

ITS AJSIA'JLOMY. Aliy observant man who has had the care of "Sheep knows that they do not suffer from intense cold as other domestic animals. It is a very common saying that as long as the wool on a sheep's back is' kept dry, no degree of cold seems to seriously interfere with their comfort and health so long as they are net compelled to sleep in a draught. Sleeping in a draught in a cold or rrosty air is a prolific source of trouble ana loss among all domestic animals, and this is especially true of sheep. It is also true that sheep are especially susceptible to heat, anil that they suffer from this cause far more than- any other domestic animal. The immunity that sheep enjoy from cold is commonly attributed to the heavy covering ot wool which JNature has provideu, and to the same source is com- I moniy attributed the suffering they en-; dure when exposed to tne rays ot tile ] summer's sun. but their immunity from cold and their susceptibility to the heat • of summer, especially when exposed to the direct rays of the summer's sun, are not alone due to their coverings of wool. The wool is indeed, in part the cause, of which we see the effect, in immunity from cold and susceptibility to heat, but not the only cause, for if the fleece be closely shorn from the body of the sheep” the cause for'immunity from cold and susceptibility to heat in a large part remains.

The anatomy of the skin reveals .is adaptability to the functions of resisting cold and retaining heat. In the skin ot the sheep Nature has provided count-' less glands whose function it is to secrete from tho blood the yolk, the unctuous secretion consisting of a peculiar potash soap which renders the pile soft and pliable. This yolky secretion lying next tho skin about the roots of the wool, together with the wool itself, prevents the escapo of animal heat from the body. The heat units from digested and assimilated food, the fuel being burned within the body, are retained and the circulation quickened, and for this reason sheep show total indifference to cold or frost. The skin of a man is provided with nearly five million pores, from which oozes perspiration carrying off the effete matter from the body, and allowing the heat units to escape. This quality of impervious skin, however, causes the sheep to suffer from heat, and as a sheep can sweat very little, unless the secretion of yolk be considered a kind of sweat, respiration is quickened, and tho lung action becomes highly excited in hot weather, resulting in great suffering, especially when tlie animal is exposed to the sun Tlie flockmaster need have little concern about the warmth of full-grown sheep except in very cold weather, driving winter rains, and Scotch shepherds and sheep farmers in the North of England fanning hills and high fells and moors, in order to prevent their sheep from suffering intensely during winter, resort to a practice of salving their sheep with tar and butter in order to make the fleece impervious to heavy rains, for a fleece when so

f a i ved is al,, los t made waterproof, helpdry B Thfl y fl, l kee | the skeep warm and or lVss fi len , S ° salved is more or Jess injured, the colour never being of that pure white when scoured that it otherwise would be; still, our northern sheepmen maintain that sheep so salved fai thau those not salved, and the practice will die hard. In view of the facts above given, which are within the observance of all, it is numb en a r th fi shsep ma - v well be shorn onh’ fltnf ir tl L an ls . t,le custom, provided and strm,t hey - be , not; exposed to cold rain better in Ti w,nds - bheep thrive much A Wdl fJ he rlf rm / "' lth tteir fleeCeS ° ff - dry sheep is always a warm i»HL an - d alwa - ys wifi be, Nature providthf axuTna? to ke - ep tbe surface of sheepmen hll 0 n t becoming chilled. What climates d a’ b ° tb m temperate like 4ustr-ilia" nr % d I V° re tor rid zones that thf stin il outb Africa, is to see and free from »n!; n slleep ls kept clean then sheep w ll lhrfv °'hef? Para J sites > retnrnc +i 11 tnnvß better and pay good retui ns to the owner.—S. B. Rollings