THE DISEASES OF SHEEP 309 



The symptoms are lameness in one or all of the 

 feet, and the animal shrinks rapidly in flesh. The little 

 sores on the nose and lips and other places discharge 

 an offensive greenish pus, which is characteristic of 

 the disease. It is through this pus dropping on feed 

 that the disease is spread over the ranges. 



The disease yields to almost any of the better class 

 of sheep dips, or to a l-to-5 solution of water and nitric 

 acid. In some cases the victims can be treated by 

 wading them through shallow pans or dips containing 

 enough of the medicine to cover the hoofs. The only 

 way to get at the sores on the body is to take each 

 animal and doctor it with a swab, taking care to have 

 every sore cleansed of all pus before the treatment is 

 applied. In some serious cases w r here the animals have 

 been neglected the disease affects the hoofs, and they 

 drop off. 



The infection also enters lambs through the freshly- 

 docked tails or the scrotum after castration; in fact, it 

 is ready to locate in or on any wound, however slight. 

 The infection of the body or in such places as are men- 

 tioned comes doubtless when the animal lies on the 

 ground. The germ is apparently very tenacious of life, 

 and sheep using a range infected with it must be con- 

 stantly inspected. At present the disease is not thor- 

 oughly understood but it is being carefully studied by 

 Government veterinarians. 



