664 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



'both brains and had vomited them, owing to the formaldehyde and 

 turpentine. A brain covered with 50 cubic centimeters of coal oil 

 was eaten within half an hour and one which had been burned with 

 the same amount of oil and some wool was eaten at once. 



The evidence that dogs eat sheep brains, even where these are 

 protected by the skull, is not entirely experimental. During the in- 

 vestigation in Montana, the writer asked a large number of sheep- 

 men whether their dogs would eat sheep heads and the answer was 

 never in the negative. Some did not know. Many claimed to have 

 seen dogs eat sheep heads. One sheepman said he had seen a dog 

 eat a sheep head and only leave a few splinters of bone uneaten. 

 Another stated that he had a dog which preferred sheep brains and 

 would break open skulls to get them. Another stated that coyotes 

 are fond of the brains of young sheep, and one man had seen what 

 he took to be fragments of sheep skulls around coyote dens. Such 

 testimony, fitting in, as it does, with the known facts and the experi- 

 mental indications, must be held to more than offset the negative tes- 

 timony of those who, in correspondence with the Bureau, claim that 

 they know of no one who has seen dogs eating sheep skulls. 



METHODS OF DESTROYING HEADS AND BRAINS. 



One method of destroying heads of giddy sheep which the writer 

 has advocated among Montana sheepmen is to burn the sheep head 

 where this is practicable. A plan which is quite as good or perhaps 

 better is to split the head longitudinally with an ax or meat cleaver 

 and get out the brain and burn it. This plan has the advantage that 

 it does not require a quantity of wood, which is a scarce article over 

 a large part of Montana's sheep ranges. The brain can be burned on 

 a forkful of hay or straw and the parasite effectually destroyed. Coal 

 oil in small amounts does not generate enough heat. Burning is 

 practicable where wood or hay is available or where the sheep can 

 be brought up to the home ranch and killed. 



These conditions can not be met with in many cases, and the 

 simple procedure advocated in such cases is to have the herder carry, 

 as part of his wagon equipment (since most Montana herders work 

 out from a wagon), an ax or a meat cleaver and a bottle or jug filled 

 with any one of a number of fluids that would serve to kill the gid 

 parasite and to discourage dogs or other carnivora from eating brains 

 which had been covered with such substances. Among other things 

 which a well-fed dog or a hungry and suspicious coyote would usually 

 avoid are 40 per cent formaldehyde, turpentine, or the always avail- 

 able sheep dips of the coal-tar creosote, tobacco, and cresol varieties. 

 Coal oil is too volatile, lacking in penetration, and not sufficiently 

 repellent. The lime-and-sulphur dip might be used, but is not rec- 

 ommended, as it is not as strong or as repellent as the other things. 

 The substances recommended have the advantage of being fatal to 

 tapeworms on contact without being fatal to dogs, a point of interest 

 to the man who must consider the possible danger to his sheep dogs. 

 A dog might eat enough to make himself sick, but could hardly eat 

 enough of such repellent substances to kill him, as vomiting would 

 usually ensue and relieve the stomach. These substances need only 



