SHEEP— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



205 



SHEEP, Blown or Blast in.— This is of 

 as frequent occurrence among sheep as 

 oxen, and it is as fatal. The cause is the 

 same, the removal of the animals from 

 poor keep to rich and succulent food. 

 When sheep are first turned on clover, or 

 even on any pasture more nutritious than 

 that to which they have been accustomed, 

 if they are not watched and kept moving 

 during the day, and folded elsewhere at 

 night, they are too apt to overload the 

 paunch, so that it can no longer contract 

 upon and expel its contents; fermenta- 

 tion then ensues, and the extrication of 

 gas ; the paunch is distended to the ut- 

 most, and the animal is often suffocated. 

 The remedy of the farmer is the same 

 here as with the ox — paunching, or thrust- 

 ing a sharp pen-knife into the paunch, be- 

 tween the hip bone and the last rib on 

 the left side, when the gas with which the 

 the stomach is distended will escape. 

 The objection to this practice is likewise 

 the same as in oxen — that when a por- 

 tion of the gas has escaped, the stom- 

 ach will no longer be firmly pressed 

 against the side, and the wounds in the 

 side and the paunch will no longer exact- 

 ly correspond ; a portion of the gas, and 

 of the contents of the stomach too, will 

 then pass into the cavity of the abdomen, 

 and (although the animal may seem for a 

 while to recover (will be an unsuspected 

 source of inflammation, and even of 

 death. 



The common elastic tube, so strongly 

 recommended by Dr. Duncan, is prefera- 

 ble to the knife; the gas will escape as 

 completely, and without possibility of 

 danger. It is passed down the gullet 

 into the paunch. The stomach-pump, 

 however, is here likewise a far preferable 

 instrument, for, as was remarked when 

 treating of the hoove in oxen, the acid 

 fluid which is probably in the stomach 

 may be pumped out, or sufficient warm 

 water pumped in to excite vomiting, and 

 thus free the stomach of its oppressive 

 load. If neither the pump nor the tube 

 is at hand, a stick with a knob at the end 

 of it should be passed by the shepherd 

 into the paunch, which, separating the 

 muscular pillars that constitute the roof of 

 this stomach, is far preferable to the knife. 



When a sheep is first seized with the 

 blown or blast, he will often be relieved 

 by being driven gently about for an hour 



or two and put into a bare pasture. In 

 the act of moving, these pillars will be 

 occasionally separated a little from each 

 other, and the gas will escape; but the 

 animal must not be galloped or driven by 

 dogs, lest the stomach should be rup- 

 tured. 



The animal having been relieved, or 

 the contents of the stomach evacuated, a 

 purgative should always be administered, 

 and that combined with some aromatic. 

 The physic for blown (see No. 71, Domes- 

 tic Animals, Medicines for) will be 

 useful. 



The same treatment recommended for 

 cattle for this disease is likewise equally 

 desirable for sheep, the dose being about 

 one-sixth or one-eighth less in quantity. 



SHEEP, the Yellows or Jaundice in. — 

 Sheep are subject to several sad affections 

 of the liver, among which ranks that 

 destructive disease, the rot. Jaundice is. 

 a less formidable malady, but often suf- 

 ficiently destructive. It consists of a su- 

 perabundant discharge of bile, or an ob- 

 struction of the biliary tubes; and in 

 either case a considerable quantity of bile' 

 enters into the circulation, penetrates into 

 the capillary vessels, and thus tinges the- 

 skin. A superabundant discharge of the 

 bile is the most frequent cause. 



The liver seems to be a very tender or- 

 gan in fatted and pampered sheep, and 

 easily inflamed or put out of order. In 

 the half-starved, half-wild varieties of 

 sheep, inflammation of the liver and 

 jaundice seldom occurs; but too high 

 living exhibits injurious consequences in 

 this organ first of all. It is often seen, 

 after sheep have been moved into fair but 

 not too luxurious pasture, that if they 

 have escaped the blown, a yellowness 

 has soon begun to steal over the eyes and? 

 the mouth, and the skin generally; and 

 the animal has been dull, and has dis- 

 liked to move, and has sometimes been 

 purged, but more frequently costive, and 

 the urine has been of a dark, yellow- 

 brown color. The liver could not main- 

 tain its healthy state under this injudicious 

 increase of nutriment. When the farmer 

 and the shepherd have either neglected ta 

 observe this, or to adopt the proper treat- 

 ment, many of the sheep have died in a 

 few days. On examination after death,, 

 marks of intense inflammation have ap- 

 peared everywhere, but more particularly 



