"BRAXY" sheep disease in AUSTRALIA, 569 



This was well illustrated in 1909, when, owing to the mild weather 

 and copious rains in the month of June, the young herbage com- 

 menced to spring earlier than usual, and, as was anticipated, the 

 disease occurred at a correspondingly early date. 



Age and Condition Incidence. — Young sheep (hoggets) and those 

 in good condition are almost exclusively affected. Rarely are adult 

 sheep affected, while young sheep in poor condition, or suffering 

 from debilitating parasitic affections, are apparently naturally 

 immune. 



District. — The centre of the island is said to be the principal 

 part of the sheep country affected. It appears to be confined to 

 the comparatively richer soils, but this may be only associated with 

 the greater likelihood of such land carrjdng sheep in good condition. 



Mortality. — This varies very considerably, but in some cases up 

 to 15 per cent, of the total young flock has succumbed to this 

 disease. 



Symptoms. — Rarely are any symptoms observed, so much so 

 that one sheepowner, who had had ten years' experience of its 

 ravages, during that period only observed two living cases, one 

 being seen curiously enough on the day of my visit. The almost 

 invariable experience is for the affected animal to be found dead 

 during the shepherds' morning round. The attitude is generally 

 that of sleep, and there is no evidence of struggling prior to death. 



Post-mortem Appearances. — Almost invariably the cadaver is 

 in a more or less advanced stage of putrefactive decomposition, 

 with much tympany of the stomach and bowels and frequently 

 there is a blood-stained froth issuing from the nostrils. The wool is 

 generally readily detachable, and the skin is often livid in the groin, 

 armpits, etc., while the subcutaneous tissues are more or less emphy- 

 sematous. That much, if not all of this, is of post-mortem occur- 

 rence is evidenced by the fact that in the living animal on the point 

 of death these phenomena were absent, while in one dead not many 

 hours they were but slight. In the subcutaneous tissues are patches 

 of oedema more or less blood-tinged. The peritoneal cavity con- 

 tains a varying quantity of clear, sero-sanguineous, or at times 

 cloudy effusion, generally with a peculiar odour of putrefaction,, 

 but in a slaughtered animal such odour was absent. The abomasum, 

 so far as I observed, did not constantly exhibit pathological changes, 

 though, according to Dr. Willmot, there is always " a certain 

 amount of blood-stained mucus, with oedematous patches, more or 

 less tumefaction, and maybe necrosis or gangrene." As later on, 

 however, he states, "in no part of the body is there any evidence 

 of inflammatory action having taken place," it is difficult to follow 

 his description. That the stomach may exhibit well marked 

 lesions was shown by examination of a sheep killed in the later 

 stage of the disease, wherein the abomasum mucosa showed near 

 the cardiac orifice, a well-defined inflammatory area about two 

 inches square, the centre being necrosed. The small intestines are 

 often injected and show patches of haemorrhage. The liver is very 



