490 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



examiner. In uncomplicated cases there is never any tendency to fungoid 

 growths, and the structure of the hoof retains its normal formation and 

 does not become soft or crumbling, as it frequently does after an attack 

 of foot-rot. The primary attack of foot-and-mouth disease is usually evi- 

 denced by the simultaneous affection of at least three of the feet of the 

 animal. The infection spreads more rapidly through the flock, and not to 

 the sheep alone, but to the cattle and hogs which are permitted to mingle 

 with them. In addition to the eruptions on the feet the sheep suffering 

 from foot-and-mouth disease will occasionally show reddened patches 

 upon the membranes of mouth and lips which speedily develop into blis- 

 ters of varying sizes. The tongue may be affected in the same manner. 

 These blisters soon rupture, leaving raw, open sores. The teats and 

 udders of affected ewes are frequently the seat of like eruptions. The 

 temperature of the animal shows marked elevation during the invasion 

 of the trouble (106' F. ), but this does not persist after the rupture of 

 the vesicles. Lesions of the mouth are not as constant in sheep as they are 

 in members of the bovine family. 



A number of European writers have in the past insisted that contagious 

 foot-rot of sheep does not exist independently of foot-and-mouth dis- 

 ease, but the very fact that contagious foot-rot has for years been more or 

 less prevalent among American sheep without ever having given rise 

 to foot-and-mouth disease among the cattle and hogs of the same farms 

 offers the most conclusive evidence that the diseases are independent 

 of one another and that they have their origin in separate, specific 

 organisms. 



PREVEXTIOX. 



The prevention of foot-rot, a matter of absorbing interest to the 

 sheep owner, may be successfully attained by means of careful manage- 

 ment. 



When purchasing sheep to be added to a healthy flock the buyer can 

 not exercise too great caution in his examination of the new-comers, and 

 to hold them for a few days in isolated quarters before permitting them 

 to join the main flock may prove to be time and effort well spent. Another 

 precaution which will in some cases prove beneficial may be found in the 

 regular examination at stated intervals of the feet of each member of 

 the flock and the removal of all excessive growths of horn. A large 

 percentage of lameness in the horse is due to an "unbalanced foot," and 

 the first step in treatment should always be the paring of the hoof, or the 

 formation of the shoe in such a manner that the foot of the horse, while 

 he is standing at ease, will be perfectly level in its relation to the floor 

 surface upon which he is standing. The same rule holds good in an ap- 

 plication to the bovine race. Overgrown hoofs should be so trimmed 

 that the plantar or wearing surface of the foot will present a natural 

 angle to the direction of the shaft of the leg, and all superfluous length of 

 toe should be removed. Overgrown toes frequently tend to forcibly spread 

 the hcofs apart, the tension thus produced leading in many cases to 

 strained tendons and to lessening the natural resistance of the tissues of 

 the region to injury. 



