Effect of Suint on Sheep Dips

Abstract

EXPERIMENTS carried out in this Department have shown that the addition of wetting agents to an arsenic dip results in a decreased retention of arsenic in the fleece; the wetting agent causes the dip to penetrate the fleece more readily, but it also facilitates drainage from the fleece after immersion. Suint, the water-soluble matter in sheep's wool, is well known to have good wetting properties, and this material must accumulate in the bath when large numbers of sheep are dipped. In order to determine what effect suint has, observations were made at a routine dipping of 264 Welsh yearlings at the College Farm. Samples of the dip were collected at the beginning and end of the dipping; also, observations were made on the first and last three sheep through the dip, the wool samples being taken from the back. The accompanying table gives the results.