DISEASES OF SHEEP 615 



so long as locoed sheep are allowed to remain with other sheep the 

 loco habit rapidly spreads. On one sheep range the writer found 

 500 locoed sheep in one band. The owner of this band stated that 

 the number of locoed sheep in the band was constantly increasing, 

 and that at the same time the worst cases were dying from time to 

 time. The habit of eating loco weeds had prevailed on this range for 

 two years, and during the winter of 1899 the owner had lost 700 

 sheep from loco disease. Another band of sheep belonging to a 

 neighboring sheepman accidentally came in contact with this band 

 during the spring of 1900. In the early part of May the herder 

 of this second band reported two or three cases of locoed sheep in his 

 band. On June 25, when this band of sheep was brought to the 

 shearing shed, the number of locoed sheep was found to be increased 

 to 150. In another part of the State an experienced sheep raiser, 

 after being nearly ruined financially through the loco disease, adopt- 

 ed the method of immediate isolation and the feeding of locoed 

 sheep for mutton. His stock was replaced with sheep that were free 

 from the loco habit, and the trouble has been entirely eradicated 

 from his range. 



No specific remedy for the loco disease has been discovered, and 

 in the nature of the case no such remedy is likely to be found. In 

 the present state of knowledge concerning the subject the only 

 rational treatment to be recommended is that of confinement and 

 feeding with a nutritious diet. By separating the locoed sheep at 

 once from other sheep the spreading of the habit will be prevented, 

 and the locoed animals may be fattened and thus prevented from 

 becoming a total loss. A sheep raiser of the Yellowstone Valley in 

 the fall of 1899 discovered 1,200 cases of loco disease among his 

 sheep. These 1,200 were immediately separated from other sheep 

 and put together in the feeding corral along with 1,000 other locoed 

 sheep which were bought from other sheep men. These 2,200 locoed 

 sheep were fed upon alfalfa and roots for a period of two months. 

 At the expiration of this time all the sheep, with the exception of 

 about 50, had apparently made a complete recovery from the loco 

 disease, and were in a good condition for market. Nearly all of the 

 50 remaining were separated from the band on account of being 

 cripples. Although locoed animals may readily be fattened and sold 

 for mutton, their recovery from the loco habit is apparent only, and 

 is due to their inability to obtain the loco weed. Such animals when 

 allowed to run upon the range again almost invariably return to 

 their old habit of eating loco weed. Animals which have once been 

 locoed are, therefore, unsuitable for stocking the range. 



In combating the loco disease the most rational methods include 

 salting of the sheep regularly, the immediate removal of locoed sheep 

 from the band, confining them in a corral, and feeding them upon a 

 nutritious diet. They may thus be fed for market and their per- 

 nicious habit will not spread to other sheep. In the case of locoed 

 horses, an apparent recovery takes place if they are confined in a 

 stable and fed on ordinary cultivated forage or allowed to run in 

 pastures where no loco weeds are found. Such horses are always 



