678 MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP DISEASES 



if driven through a strong solution of arsenic when their feet 

 are in a raw state ; and serious consequences result if pellets 

 of undissolved arsenic are left adhering to the hoofs. 



" The natural home of the sheep is on dry and stony 

 uplands where herbage is sparse, and long distances have to 

 be covered to obtain their living ; this exercise and sparse- 

 ness of food keep the sheep in lean yet hardy condition, 

 the hoof grows slowly and is consequently harder, and the 

 wear and tear on sole and wall of the hoof are in due propor- 

 tion ; but, when sheep graze on the lowlands and on soft 

 pastures where the herbage is luxuriant, the opposite condi- 

 tions rule : the sheep become fat and heavy for their feet, the 

 horn is soft, the wall grows more quickly, and the soft ground 

 does not wear it down. The wall of the hoof turns in on the 

 sole, sets up irritation and consequent inflammation, dirt 

 lodges between the folds and crevices of the ragged horn and 

 stops up its natural tubes; degeneration of the horn and 

 foot-rot results. This inflammation may extend to all the 

 sensitive structures of the foot, and even to the bone. 



" That ewes in lamb so often suffer, may be put down to 

 the fact that they are heavier by reason of pregnancy, and 

 that they are also on the best and richest pastures, and 

 therefore wear the feet little. Since sheep are all on the 

 pasture and subject to the same conditions, foot-rot would 

 arise from the same cause in many sheep at the same time ; 

 hence sprang the belief by some that foot-rot was contagious. 

 There is, however, a contagious form of foot-rot, 1 not so 

 common in this country as on the Continent : in it the horn is 

 not first affected, but a discharge of a yellow sticky fluid of 

 an ammoniacal odour runs from the interdigital glands, acts 

 on the horn of the hoof, and produces an irritating effect 

 similar to that of true foot-rot." 



Treatment. Sheep's feet should be examined regularly 

 at short intervals, and all superfluous horn pared away ; the 

 wall of the hoof being reduced to the level of the sole. When 

 the disease is contracted, all the diseased and loose and 

 under-run horn should be removed, the feet pared to their 

 proper shape, and the affected parts smeared with such 

 dressings as the butter of antimony. Carbolic acid and tar 



1 See Professor Geo. T. Brown (Kt. 1898) in the R. A. C. Journal for 

 1892. 



