SHEEP— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



2 '3 



SHEEP, Foot-Rot in. — Although this 

 disease resembles the last in name, it is 

 altogether different in character. It is 

 not so fatal as the liver rot, but it is sadly- 

 annoying : it is of very frequent occur- 

 rence, and it seems to be increasing. 



It is, like the rot, peculiar to certain 

 pastures ; but there is more variety in this 

 than is found with regard to the rot. 

 There we must have stagnant water, and 

 the process of evaporation going forward. 

 For the production of the foot rot we 

 must have soft ground, and it does not 

 seem much to matter how that softness 

 comes about. In the poachy and marshy 

 meadow, in the rich and deep pasture of 

 the lawn, and in the yielding sand of the 

 lightest soil, it cannot, perhaps, be said 

 that it is almost equally prevalent, .but it 

 is frequently found. Soft and marshy 

 ground is its peculiar abode. The native 

 mountain sheep knows nothing about it : 

 it is when the horn has been softened by 

 being too long in contact with some rich 

 and moist land, that the animal begins to 

 halt. This softness is connected with 

 unnatural growth of horn, and with un- 

 equal pressure; and the consequence is 

 that some part of the foot becomes irri- 

 tated and inflamed by this undue pres- 

 sure, or the weakened parts of the horn, 

 too rapidly and unevenly growing, are 

 broken off, and corroding ulcers are pro- 

 duced. Although there would not ap- 

 pear to be any great wear and tear of the 

 foot in this soft land, yet the horn be- 

 comes so exceedingly unsound and 

 spongy, that small particles of sand or 

 gravel make their way through the soft- 

 ened mass, and penetrate to the quick. 

 It not unfrequently happens that injuries 

 of this sort are produced unconnected 

 with and independent of the foot-rot, and 

 they may be cured much easier, but by 

 very similar means. The hardness or the 

 sponginess of the horn depends altogether 

 on the dryness or moisture of the soil in 

 which the animal has fed. Large, heavy 

 sheep, having comparatively thinner hoofs 

 than lighter ones, are more subject to the 

 disease. 



True foot-rot more frequently begins 

 from above than below. The horn is 

 rendered softer, weaker, and more luxu- 

 riant by exposure to wet : the foot, from 

 being kept wet and cold, is exposed to 

 re-action with any change of weather, 



and inflammation is thus excited within 

 the foot, which often ends in suppuration, 

 and this occasions those troublesome ul- 

 cers that are sometimes witnessed. 



The first symptom of the disease is the 

 lameness of the sheep. On the foot 

 being examined this morbid growth is 

 almost invariably found. The foot is hot, 

 and the animal shrinks if it is firmly 

 pressed. It is particularly hot and pain- 

 ful in the cleft between the two hoofs; 

 and there is generally some enlargement 

 about the coronet. There is always an 

 increased secretion, usually fetid, and 

 often there is a wound about me coronet 

 discharging a thin, stinking fluid : some- 

 times there is a separation of the horn 

 from the parts beneath, and that too fre- 

 quently preceding the dropping off of the 

 hoof. In comparatively a few cases the 

 hoof seems to be worn to the quick at or 

 near the toe. The lameness rapidly in- 

 creases, and often to such a degree indeed 

 that the sheep is unable to stand, but 

 moves about the field on its knees. The 

 soft portions of the foot, and sometimes 

 the very bones of it, slough away, and 

 drop off. 



All this is necessarily attended by a 

 great deal of pain, and the animal shows 

 how much it preys upon him by his moan- 

 ing, and refusing to eat, and ceasing to 

 ruminate, and most rapidly wasting. Ir- 

 ritating fever comes on, and after the 

 poor creature has crept about the field on 

 his knees for a few weeks, he dies from 

 irritation and starvation. 



Of one thing the farmer may be as* 

 sured — that the foot-rot is exceedingly 

 infectious. If it once gets into a flock, it 

 spreads through the whole. Some valua- 

 ble writers have denied this ; but there ia 

 scarcely a farmer who has not had woful 

 experience of the truth of it. Even on 

 the dryest soil, the greater part of the 

 flock have become lame in a very few 

 weeks after a diseased sheep has come 

 among them. There are, however, some 

 instances in which a sheep with the foot- 

 rot has grazed among others during sev- 

 eral months, and no disease has ensued ; 

 and some curious experiments would 

 make it appear that under particular 

 circumstances it is difficult to produce 

 foot-rot by inoculation. But these are 

 exceptions to the general rule; and nc 

 who trusts to the non-contagiousness <jt 



