MILK-SICKNESS IN LAMBS 543 



long." The latter name is given because a Blackface was at 

 one time termed the "short" sheep, and a Cheviot the 

 "long" sheep. As ewes, these sheep of mixed breed are 

 good milkers when kept under favourable conditions, but 

 they are not so hardy on mountain land as Blackfaces. 

 A Blackface ewe carries a lamb by a Leicester three or 

 four days longer than she naturally does one got by a 

 pure Blackface ram. Cross lambs pay much the same as 

 Blackfaces when forced, but they cost more and eat more. 

 The Border Leicester-Cheviot cross suits better for early 

 fattening. Cheviot wether lambs are slow feeders, and 

 generally require to be kept on till spring, when they become 

 the most valuable light-weight Scotch sheep in the fat 

 market. They are unsuitable for finishing on rape in autumn. 

 The feeding qualities of half-longs resemble those of pure 

 Cheviots more than Blackfaces. 



Milk-sickness in Lambs occurs in upland districts with 

 an abundance of "draw-moss" sheathing cotton sedge, 

 Eriophorum vaginatum, or spret, Juncus articulatus. The 

 malady appears in May, soon after the lambing begins, and 

 continues with greater or less severity till the end of the 

 month, being most deadly in good growing seasons. At 

 times as many as one-third of the lambs born on one day 

 will die. However plentiful and good grass may be in June, 

 the evil influences which are liable to be exerted when the 

 sheep are feeding freely on draw-moss or spret do not occur 

 with them, and late lambs rarely suffer. The disease appears 

 in the case of lambs of about two or three days old, in the 

 form of inflammation of the stomach, and they die in con- 

 vulsions within a few hours. The post-mortem appearances 

 are different from those present when lambs "burst" after 

 taking too much milk, as they are liable to do on rich low- 

 country pasture. A good precautionary measure against 

 milk-sickness is to give one teaspoonful of whisky in a 

 teaspoonful of water twice daily for three days, the ewes 

 which have not lambed being " shed in," so that the work of 

 treating every lamb under three days old may be made 

 possible. A teaspoonful of castor oil is also effective if given 

 before the lambs sucks. There is not much chance of treat- 

 ment being successful after the symptoms appear, and no 

 hope of natural recovery. Another means of prevention is 



