MACHINE SHEEP-SHEARING AND NATIONAL EFFICIENCY.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XV, Issue 3, 20 September 1917, Page 134

MACHINE SHEEP-SHEARING AND NATIONAL EFFICIENCY.

J. L. BRUCE,

Assistant Director, Live-stock Division.

In addition to the military service of the many thousands of gallant men who have gone and are going to “do their bit ” at the front, a solid task remains . for those of us who must stay behind, and that lies in increased production from the land. With the shortage of men this can only be done by “ efficiency/' in making use to the fullest extent of every appliance which science and invention, have placed at our disposal. There are many directions in which the use of labour-saving appliances could be introduced into our agricultural and pastoral operations. One of these, although rapidly coming, into general use, should, in the writer’s opinion, become universal. Shearing-machines are referred to. The majority of. the larger sheepowners in this country* have. come to recognize the advantages of “machines” over “blades.” This has been partly, in the first instance, brought about through the difficulty .in obtaining good blade shearers. After, a season’s • trial it was found that the use of machines was a highly profitable investment, owing to increased clip (particularly in the first season), better work, quicker despatch, and less knocking about of. sheep. Furthermore, the shearers can earn 20 to 40 per cent, more money with less exertion, and there is also no scarcity of learners, who soon acquire the art of handling the machines. Under present conditions blade shearers are becoming more difficult to obtain each year, . and the small sheepowner has difficulty in getting ' his sheep shorn. The - question thus arises, Should not every sheepowner install shearing-machines ? Some may say, “I am getting along all right without them ” ; and others, “.Will it pay ? ” The former may be asked how long he is sure of being able to get along without them. When unable to do the work himself he will then feel the pinch, and in any case it pays to machine-shear. Some may advocate co-operative ownership of a shearing plant where a number of small holdings adjoin.' This plan may look well in theory, but is as a rule disappointing in practice. Another method is a travelling plant. This has many points to commend it, and is preferable to the former plan; but, all things taken into consideration; every man with, say, two hundred sheep or more should possess his own'plant. "' He can purchase and have

erected in his shed, a two-stand plant with if h.p. engine at a cost of from £llO (engine £SO, plant £66), and if short of ready cash he can obtain , most liberal terms. With £lO worth of extra wool (at present prices) from his first clip with the machine,' and prices 55 per cent. over those received for the ■ 1913-14 season, upon an 8 lb. to 9 lb. clip he will have more than half paid for his machine the first season. A larger engine than a if- h.p. would, however, be desirable, even for a small number of sheep. - A light engine is equal to driving the machines, but with, say, a 2 J h.p. engine at about £7O, or even a 4 h.p. engine at about £9O, the extra expense would in most cases well repay the owner. There is nothing more useful about a farm than cheap and effective motive power, and either of the stronger engines, preferably the 4 h.p., can' be-' used for chaff-cutting, woodsawing, ' pumping 'water, &c. The crux of the matter is that in the present crisis it Ms- our - duty to avail ourselves of , every method which will assist towards national efficiency, and ; in this unequalled pastoral country, with its twenty-five million sheep, the shearingmachine must play a very important-part.