492 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to apply itself thoroughly to all the cracks and fissures of the feet. 

 Instead of the mixture of chloride of lime, a solution composed of one 

 part of carbolic acid crystals to every thirty parts of water, or 1 pound 

 of pure carbolic acid to 4 gallons of water, may be used as a foot-bath 

 for the sound part of the flock. 



The trough used in this operation may be of wood, tightly constructed, 

 20 inches in width, and a foot or more in depth. The length should be 

 proportioned to the size of the flock to be treated. For small lots that 

 are accustomed to being handled, the trough need not be over 6 feet in 

 length. In such cases, however, the animals should be allowed to 

 stand for a moment in the solution before passing out. A greater length 

 of trough would necessitate the preparation of a larger amount of fluid, 

 and consequently would entail greater expense. Where a large number 

 of sheep is to be treated, the trough should not be less than 20 feet in 

 length. Hurdles or portable racks may be so arranged by the sides of 

 the trough and along the pathway leading to it that each animal will 

 be obliged to pass through the bath with but little urging. 



After this treatment has been applied to the sound part of the flock, 

 they should be at once placed in fresh, uncontaminated quarters. Al- 

 though they are not likely to show any evidences of the disease after 

 being treated in this way, the owner or shepherd should not neglect 

 them, but should closely watch for any signs of lameness, and when 

 discovered, the affected animals should be promptly removed and sub- 

 jected to more careful treatment. In case the flock from which the 

 healthy sheep were separated is badly diseased, it would be advisable 

 to have the sound animals pass through the bath, as described above, on 

 several occasions. This may be done every second day until three or 

 four treatments have been applied, special care being taken in the 

 meantime to provide fresh, clean quarters for the animals, completely 

 separated from the diseased portion of the flock. 



While selecting treatment for that portion of the flock in which the 

 disease has become established, it should be remembered that the prin- 

 cipal requisites are to lay bare the affected surfaces and to dstroy the 

 infectious matter which has lodged Upon them. The remedy which will 

 accomplish this most readily, and at the same time not give rise to 

 harmful secondary conditions, is evidently the one that should be given 

 the preference. 



The bacteria, to which the disease is due, yield very readily to the 

 application of disinfectants, and the trouble which so many sheep men 

 have experienced in the eradication of foot-rot from their flocks must 

 have been due to a failure to properly expose the affected surfaces to the 

 action of the applied remedy. 



During the present series of experiments many of the feet in which 

 disease has been purposely produced have been healed up as soon as the 

 true course of the affection had become evident, so as to avoid unneces- 

 sary lameness, and in these cases it has been found that all advance of 

 the disease processes has promptly stopped upon the application of a 5 

 per cent solution of carbolic acid, several applications usually proving 

 sufficient. In these cases, however, it must be admitted that the condi- 

 tions for successfully healing the lesions were far more favorable than 



