History of Sheep Shearing tools.?
What are the tools used for shearing sheep and how have they changed over the years (In Australia mainly, but any information would be helpful)
What other equipments were used to handle sheep?
thanks 
cheers
Up until the 1870s squatters washed their sheep in nearby creeks prior to shearing.Later some expensive hot water installations were constructed on some of the larger stations for the washing.Sheep washing in Australia was influenced by the Saxony sheep breeders in Germany who washed their sheep and by the Spanish practice of washing the wool after shearing. There were three main reasons for the custom in Australia:
The English manufacturers demanded that Australian woolgrowers provide their fleeces free from vegetable matter, burrs, soil, etc.
The dirty fleeces were hard to shear and demanded that the metal blade shears be sharpened more often.
Wool in Australia was carted by bullock team or horse teams and charged by weight. Washed wool was lighter and did not cost as much to transport.
The practice of washing the wool rather than the sheep evolved from the fact that hotter water could be used to wash the wool, than that used to wash the sheep. When the practice of selling wool in the grease occurred in the 1890s, wool washing became obsolete.
Australia and New Zealand had to discard the old methods of wool harvesting and evolve more efficient systems to cope with the huge numbers of sheep involved. After 1888 machine shearing was introduced, reducing second cuts and shearing time.[3] By 1915 most large sheep station sheds in Australia had installed machines, driven by steam or later by internal combustion engines.
Shearing tables were invented in the 1950s, but have not proved popular, although some are still used for crutching
Today, large flocks of sheep are shorn by professional shearing teams working eight hour days, most often in spring, by machine shearing. These contractor teams will consist of shearers, shed hands and a cook (in the more isolated areas). The shed staff working hours and wages are regulated by industry awards. A working day starts at 7:30 AM and the day is divided into four “runs” of two hours each. “Smoko” breaks of a half hour each are at 9:30 AM and again at 3:00 PM. The lunch break is taken at 12:00 PM for one hour. Most shearers are paid on a piece rate, i.e., per sheep. Shearers who “tally” more than 200 sheep per day are known as “gun shearers”. Typical mass shearing of sheep today follows a well-defined workflow: remove the wool, throw the fleece onto the wool table, skirt, roll and class the fleece, place it in the appropriate wool bin, press and store the wool until it is transported. In 1984 Australia became the last country in the world to permit the use of wide combs, due to previous Australian Workers Union rules. Although they were rare in sheds, women now take a large part in the shearing industry by working as pressers, wool rollers, rouseabouts, wool classers and also shearing, too.
This websites will be helpful for your inquiries:
http://www.sheep101.info/201/shearing.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_shearing
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