356 FOULS HOOF -EOT. 



LAMENESS FROM FKOZEN MUD. I have elsewhere men- 

 tioned that when sheep are kept in unlittered yards in winter, 

 and especially when they are allowed to run over plowed 

 ground, little pellets of mud often adhere to the hairs which 

 hang down in the clefts of the feet, and a sudden and severe 

 freeze converts these into pellets of the consistency of stone. 

 Nay, the kneading operation of the toes on this lump of earth 

 frequently gives it such consistency that, on becoming dry 

 merely, it acts as a highly irritating body in the foot. I have 

 seen half the sheep of a flock made lame enough in this way 

 to give a strong suspicion of hoof- rot. On looking into the 

 feet, the skin on each side of the little mud ball is found 

 chafed and inflamed sometimes worn through and matter 

 formed in the wounds. I saw a purchase of a valuable flock 

 of sheep broken off by this cause. The parties had agreed on 

 the price, and both were anxious to complete the bargain. 

 But there were a small number of lame sheep, and the 

 purchaser demanded a guaranty against hoof -rot, which the 

 seller refused to give, and consequently lost the sale of his 

 sheep by his carelessness. The remedy, or rather the pre- 

 ventive, is too obvious to require mention. 



FOULS. Sheep are much less subject to this disease than 

 cattle, but contract it if kept in wet, filthy yards, or on moist, 

 poachy pastures. A wet season and tall grass sometimes 

 produce it, even on dry uplands. The skin in the cleft of the 

 foot first has a macerated or water-soaked appearance, which 

 is followed by a degree of inflammation and lameness. It 

 disappears when the sheep is removed to a dry yard or 

 pasture but more promptly if the parts have a solution of 

 blue vitriol or turpentine applied to them, or are daubed 

 with tar. 



HooF-RoT. I mentioned in " Sheep Husbandry in the 

 South," that the description of the early stages of this disease 

 given in Mr. Youatt's justly popular work on Sheep, is almost 

 wholly inapplicable to the malady in the United States, and 

 among Merino sheep. I never have seen it among English 

 sheep ; and, in this country, they, like all our other coarse- 

 wooled varieties, are notoriously less subject to it than 

 Merinos, and far more readily cured when they contract it. 

 Some of the reasons for this fact may probably be found in 

 the different structure of their hoofs mentioned at page 168. 

 As Mr. Youatt's works are received and, as a general thing, 



