362 HOOF-KOT. 



"What course, then, shall be pursued? Shall the flock- 

 master sacrifice his sheep shall he take the ordinary half- 

 way course or shall he expend more on the sheep than they 

 are worth in attempting to cure them ? Neither. The course 

 I would advise him to pursue, will appear as I detail the 

 experiments I have made. 



Treatment. The preparation of the foot is a subject of 

 no dispute, but the labor can be prodigiously economized by 

 attention to a few not very commonly observed particulars. 

 Sheep should be yarded for the operation immediately after 

 a rain, if practicable, as then the hoofs can be readily cut. 

 In a dry time, and after a night which has left no dew on the 

 grass, their hoofs are almost as tough as horn. They must 

 be driven through no mud, or soft dung, on their way to the 

 yard, which doubles the labor of cleaning their feet. The 

 yard must be small, so they can be easily caught, and it must 

 be kept well littered down, so they shall not fill their feet 

 with their own manure. If the straw is wetted, their hoofs 

 will not of course dry and harden as rapidly as in dry straw. 

 Could the yard be built over a shallow, gravelly-bottomed 

 brook,* it would be an admirable arrangement. The hoofs 

 would be kept so soft that the greatest and most unpleasant 

 part of the labor, as ordinarily performed, would in a great 

 measure be saved ; and they would be kept free from that 

 dung which, by any other arrangement, will more or less get 

 into their feet. 



The principal operator or foreman seats himself in a chair 

 a couple of good sharp knives, (one at least a thin and narrow 

 one,) a whetstone, the powerful toe-nippers (figured on page 

 169,) a bucket of water with a couple of linen rags in it, and 

 such medicines as he chooses to employ, within his reach. 

 The assistant catches a sheep and lays it partly on its back 

 and rump, between the legs of the foreman, the head coming 

 up about to his middle. The assistant then kneels on some 

 straw, or seats himself on a low stool at the hinder extremity 

 of the sheep. If the hoofs are long, and especially if they 

 are dry and tough, the assistant presents each foot to the 

 foreman, who shortens the hoof Avith the toe-nippers. If 

 there is any filth between the toes, each man, after first using 

 a stick, takes his rag from the bucket of water, draws it 

 between the toes and rinses it, until the filth is removed. 

 Each then seizes his knife, and the process of paring away 



* A place might be prepared in any little brook by graveling or by laying, a floor 

 of boards on the bottom. 



