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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE ROT IN SHEEP. 



It is au acknowledged fact that rot in sheep is gene- 

 rally preceded by a continuously wet season. For the 

 many past weeks we have had little else than rainy days 

 and damp nights. The herbage is never dry, and the 

 weather never warm, the lairage always cold, and the 

 sheep constantly soaked. These circumstances would 

 indicate the greatest danger to our flocks from colds 

 and inflammatory attacks ; but to me they appear the 

 too certain precursors of that dire pest and fatal disease, 

 the rot in sheep. 



It is with great diffidence I take up this subject, as it 

 more properly belongs to the professional veterinarian, 

 rather than the practical farmer. But, however im- 

 perfect this short paper may be (and it will consist 

 chiefly of extracts from authentic sources), it cannot fail 

 to do great good by calling the attention of flock-masters 

 to the subject through your valuable columns, and 

 at a time so early that I trust preventives and remedies 

 may be adopted to ward off" or mitigate its evils. 



The most fatal years for rot, recently known in its 

 destructive effects, were those of 1809, 1824, and 1830. 

 It is asserted that annually about one million of sheep 

 and lambs are destroyed by its direful eflf'ectsj but in 

 the year or winter of 1830-31 the annual estimate was 

 far more than doubled, so that in the year 1833 the sup- 

 plies of sheep fell off, and Smithfield Market averaged 

 about 5, 000 per head less than usual each marketday j and 

 the same falling off was manifest in all the country fairs 

 and markets — a fact sufliciently alarming in itself, with- 

 out multiplying instances, to cause the most earnest 

 attention to be given to it, and the adoption of every 

 approved course of management to prevent it. 



The rot in sheep is generally classed as a disease of 

 the liver, and very properly so, because the chief seat of 

 the disease is in the liver; and which, in confirmed 

 cases of rot, abound with those well-known parasites 

 called flukes. In Morton's Cyclopaedia it is said : 

 " These insects, which vary in size from an eighth to a 

 quarter of an inch in diameter, are found floating about 

 the biliary duct, apparently feeding on the bile, and 

 preventing it from fulfilling its destined functions in the 

 animal economy." 



Youatt says : " The principal alterations of structure 

 are in the liver : it is pale, livid, and broken down with 

 the slightest pressure; and, on being boiled, it will 

 almost dissolve away. In some cases it is spotted like 

 the back of a toad. Nevertheless, some parts are hard 

 and schirrous ; others are ulcerated, and the biliary 

 ducts are filled with flukes. Here is the decided seat of 

 disease, and it is here that the nature of the malady is 

 to be learned. It is inflammation of the liver. In 

 consequence of this the secretion of the liver is increased 

 —at first scarcely vitiated, and the digestive powers are 

 rendered more energetic; but soon the bile flows so 

 abundantly that it is taken into the system, and the eye, 



the brisket, the mouth become yellow. As the disease 

 proceeds the liver becomes disorganised and its secre- 

 tion more vitiated and even poisonous ; and then follows 

 a total derangement of the digestive powers. The whole 

 system sympathizes ; every viscus of the chest and the 

 abdomen is gradually involved, and the animal exhibits 

 at its death a state of general disorganization which 

 accompanies scarcely any other malady." 



Most graziers know that when sheep are first taken 

 with rot they do increase in condition very fast, but 

 if not sold in their best state they as rapidly decline, 

 and in a few months are worthless. Hence experience 

 proves Mr. Youatt's statement above, that " the di- 

 gestive powers are rendered more energetic." This, of 

 course, ought to induce graziers to great watchfulness. 

 They must, indeed, look with suspicion upon their 

 flocks when they appear to thrive most satisfactorily, 

 and carefully examine them. It is only practised indi- 

 viduals who can truly discover the disease in its early 

 stages. The yellow tinges described above are the chief 

 evidences, i, c, yellow in the eye, the brisket, the 

 mouth, &c. 



There have beenasmany as 870 flukes taken out of one 

 liver, and in some cases only ten or twelve, both having 

 died of rot. " Then," Mr, Youatt further observes, 

 "is the fluke-worm the cause or effect of the rot ? To 

 a certain extent both." He then describes, fully, their 

 destructive fatal action, &c., but proceeds — " Not- 

 withstanding all this Lowever, if the fluke follows the 

 analogy of other entozoa and parasites, it is the effect, 

 and not the cause, of the rot. The ova is continually 

 swallowed by the sound animals and the diseased ; but 

 it is only when the fluids are altered, and sometimes 

 essentially changed, and the condition of the digestive 

 organs is materially impaired, that their appearance is 

 favoured or their multiplication encouraged." He fur- 

 ther says : " He has never seen the liver of a rotted sheep, 

 in which the fluke-worm, or traces of his previous ex- 

 istence in the liver, were not sufliciently plain." What, 

 then, is the cause of rot in sheep ? Instances innume- 

 rable might be cited of great peculiarities in the way by 

 which this pest has been inbibed by different flocks, and 

 that fatally. Parkinson says; "Twenty sheep were 

 taken to Wragby fair, six being left behind, marked 

 differently. The twenty died, the six lived free from 

 disease. The supposition was that the twenty caught 

 the infection on some rotting ground. In another case 

 he states twenty were sent to Burgh fair : one had a 

 broken leg, it lived free from disease ; the nineteen died 

 rotten. The nineteen were suflTered only to range a 

 common while a cart was procured for the lame sheep. 

 A Dorset breeder's sheep were taken to drink at a small 

 pond, not being more than 15 minutes there ; 200 of 

 them died from rot." These few facts must, for this' 

 time, sufiice ; they could be extended indefinitely. It 



