THE STORY OF WOOL

here in nature's Wonderland in the open ranges of our American Rockies we start our story of wool out where the mountain stillness is broken only by the bleating of the Sheep innumerable flocks of these creatures peacefully grazed through the summer months in the clear cool air of the high altitudes these are the animals who will produce so many valuable commodities necessary to civilization and here seemingly so far from that civilization they are cared for by the solitary sheep herder and his dog through the long months of a grazing period he watches alone over the Sheep keeping the flock together and safe from harm a life which would hardly appeal to all as the season draws to a close the sheep herder must be alert to the signs of coming winter with its attendant storms now the flock must be driven to shelter in the valleys below the long descent sometimes too early storms and biting cold is a slow uneventful process once in the winter pastures and feeding Corral's the sheep are fed by hand even here winters snows penetrate and the sheath must depend on the hay in prepared foods which the rancher provides so far we have seen only the use of their lands the Rams are separated from their mates most of the year so that the lambing season may be controlled in the early winter the Rams are driven toward the ranch for the mating season here the Rams and the use will be left to feed together on the snowy fields of the winter pastures and so it goes until the first blush of spring when the snows have gone and the fresh smell of meadow build the air the herder must watch out for the occasional land that is born before the regular lambing season because lurking behind many a sagebrush is the coyote just waiting for a chance to find a little fellow struggling along by himself a mama lap hey come back here and get your baby well the little fellow is safe for the time being we are coming now to the most important part of a sheep's life that is from the point of view of us mercenaries the ranchers the weavers and of course the consumers for now starts the final drive to the lambing grounds of the shearing pens most of us know that wool is widely used for suits and overcoats blankets on the light few of us know that it is within the range of perception that from the sheep we see here will come strings for violins in a Philadelphia Orchestra sheep skins for diplomas for a New England graduating class cosmetics shoes and gloves for a Hollywood actress and strings for a Champions racquet at Wimbledon the ranch proper is now a beehive of activity for this is the time that the years work is going to be reduced to dollars and cents from opposite points of the compass the various blocks converge on the ranch the air is rent with the bleating of sheep the barking of dogs and the commands of men the Sheep know that something is a stir but they don't know what they follow their leader blindly however and with the dogs to keep them on the move they eventually are completely penned in the main chorale is like a funnel eating into shoots which eventually narrowed down to permit only one animal at a time to pass with the aid of a dodge gate a wool buyer can select the year old lands from the use these chutes open up into Corral's again where the graded stock awaits the clipping if you think that we mortals are crowded in subways ballparks of buses take a look at this and mind you they are just waiting for a haircut from the expressions on their faces it would be difficult to know how they feel about see what I mean good poker faces don't you think the actual shearing is done by itinerant hands usually Mexican who follow the season much like the pressure in the wheat harvest they are paid by the sheep usually about 25 cents apiece and then an 8-hour day they can share from 125 to 150 sheep the use get a rough handling from the shearers although they are rarely injured they seem to know that they are being handled by an expert and submit rather peaceably to the clipping or probably they realize the futility of it all and are resigned to their fate they are bound on all four feet precluding any hasty exit while this looks easy here try it sometime and you'll agree that there are tricks to all trades about eight Shearer's work on each side of the shearing truck the shearing machinery is usually gasoline driven the power going through a main shaft and down through a series of flexible shafts right down to the Clipper head which looks like an overgrown hair clipper the fleece holds together pretty well as it comes off in one piece from a range sheep each police will weigh from eight to ten pounds and when the shearing is over the Sheep look like they weigh about eight pounds too to say the least at the stage of the game this will resembles a wrinkle proof tie or a 500 brands suit about as much as an egg resembles a chicken the wall is filled with ticks and brush gathered over one year on the open range not all of the tix stayed on the wall or the Sheep either your camera men found innumerable of the little fellows embedded in their arms legs and backs when night fell and hot baths were in order each police is rolled up and tied together with paper twine in order to facilitate handling and is tossed to the sacker who merely gets as much in the sack as possible and you don't need a college education to sew up the bags but I'll wager this fellow wouldn't swap places with any brass hat in any paneled office in the world each bag holds from 40 to 45 fleeces and ways from 350 to 400 pounds there is not always enough space in the storage shed available and the bags are stacked in the open as you will see each bag has the particular ranch brand stamped upon it in this case the spur this same identifying mark is used for sheep identification on the range completely harmless to wool and painless to animal this specially prepared paint will stay with the Sheep until the next cheering complete freedom is almost within grasp and you can sense that these sheep know that score but they are counted so that the rancher will know how much he owned the shearers and as far as the sheared sheep are concerned their freedom was like little johnny's exit from his first barber chair well while freedom is in sight first to confinement period if you will because the sheep you see here are all with lambs which are born in the open fields here an improvised ambulance goes about picking up the use in their newly born lands this little fellow while exactly two minutes old is determined to get up and walk but without success it seems and if they can't walk they must be carried this method might seem cruel but like carrying a kitten by the nape of the neck it is the accepted method for baby lambs and the like like Mary's little lamb everywhere the land goes mother is sure to follow Nature has provided a safeguard in the case of twin lambs in that the you will not nurse one without the other or there is no breakfast this keeps one lamb from getting all the milk supply from the you when the Rams are very young they're kept close to their mothers so that you can get used to the smell of her baby which is the only way she has to recognize it well look who's here the famous botany woolly lamb hi whitey our improvised ambulances kept busy going back and forth between the lambing fields and the ranch where mother and offspring are put into private pens for 10 or 12 hours to get acquainted is not long before the little fellows know where their dinner comes from but a mother will only take care of her own appt spring which at first she gets to know by smell but which later she can recognize by sight in spite of all the precautions that are taken sometimes the mothers die and the orphans become the family's pets in range vernacular they are called buns but you can rest assured that every one of these has a name when it is left up to the family to feed it get away if it's an Oscar you be quiet I'll be right there to you when a used lamb has died at birth the jacket of the dead lamb is placed on a little orphan and the mother of the dead lamb sending her own offspring will feed and rear the little fellow as her own now mama here is a little bit wary she doesn't quite believe her eyes but she does believe her nose and our orphan has a meal ticket and while new boarders are coming from the lambing grounds to the Pens the older ones are turned out into the sunshine all of them are as frisky as can be and all of them are as hungry as can be they're gradually weaned and soon become accustomed to their staple food grass while the shearing has been going on the sheepherders homes have been made ready for the coming season now that the Lambs have gained strength and can forage for themselves it is time for the herder to drive the mothers and youngsters on the long ascent for the summer grazing lands the heavy sacks are carefully loaded so is to distribute the weight evenly they are firmly chained in place as railroad terminals are few and far between out here and the trip across sagebrush country is far from smooth most of the wolf processing mills are in the east and at the height of the season in the wool country the freight depot is practically hidden from view by the great bags well it's almost all over but the shipping the versatile Jeep provides the motive power for hoisting the bags into the boxcars in rather a simple way every bag is numbered with its weight and a code designation for the ranch are making the shipment oftentimes a wool buyer is present to watch the operation soon peace and quiet will settle over the railroad terminal and grass will grow in the shearing pens the itinerant Shearer's will be taking their siestas along the Rio Grande and the rancher will wait and plan for the next season's crop the patient herder will begin another long season of solitary watchfulness in the remote pasture lands of the high altitudes and the sheep meanwhile will go along their own way completely unaware of the defendants we mortals place upon