TEVEB.J 



SHEEP, 



[EOT. 



GARGET. 

 This is an iullammation of the udder, and is 

 a Tery common, painful, and sometimes fatal 

 disease. It is less frequent in the sheep, how- 

 ever, than in the cow, and may be produced by 

 cold and wet lair, and, it is stated, from the 

 hardness and dryness of the ground, or from 

 constitutional derangement. "Warm fomenta- 

 tion in the first stage, and rubbing with marsh- 

 mallow ointment after each fomentation, with 

 a warm, dry towel, is the best local application ; 

 while an internal medicine, composed of — 



Three drachms of nitre, 

 Two of cream of tartar, 

 Dissolved in four ounces of lukewarm water, 



may be given with advantage. The black oils 

 may be used, after the first few days, to pro- 

 mote suppuration of the matter formed in the 

 udder, and, after it breaks, a dressing of tinc- 

 ture of myrrh. An ounce or two of Epsom 

 salts is also recommended to be given to the 

 ewe, with a drachm of ginger dissolved in 

 warm water or gruel, and the udder fomented, 

 for some time, with water as hot as she can 

 bear it. The lamb may afterwards be allowed 

 to suck her. The fomentation, if necessary, 

 should be repeated, and the camphor ointment 

 rubbed in twice a day. If the swelling con- 

 tinue, it should at once be opened, and the 

 discliarge of the pus assisted by pressure, 

 and renewed fomentation. Should the wound 

 smell disagreeably in the least degree, it 

 should be syringed with a weak solution of 

 chloride of lime for several days. It some- 

 times happens that, from the eflfects of garget, 

 some portions of the udder become hard or 

 schirrous, as it is termed, and, of course, no 

 longer secretes milk. When such is the case, 

 the ewe should invariably be drafted and fat- 

 tened for the butcher. 



PUERPERAL FEVER. 

 This is not so common in the ewe as it is in 

 the covr. When it does occur, the medicine 

 recommended for acute garget will be found 

 useful, and may in general be given ; or the 

 following may be administered : — 



Epsom salts . . . . ^ oz. 

 Tincture of opium . . .1 drachm. 

 Camphor pulo . . . . X drachrji. 

 746 



This is recommended by Professor Spooner 

 after ahortion — a complaint which sometimes 

 attends ewes when kept exclusively on turnips. 



CASTRATION. 



When this operation is performed on lambs 

 about a mouth old, it is very simple; and, 

 though often executed in a manner somewhat 

 barbarous, it may be more humanely done by 

 a kind of combined knife and forceps, which 

 has. been invented for the purpose. In per- 

 forming the operation, an attendant holds the 

 lamb with a fore and hind leg in each hand, 

 and with the back close to his breast. The 

 operator cuts oW the end of the scrotum, 

 presses on the bag till the testicles protrude, 

 and either seizes the testicles with his teeth, 

 one by one, or with the forceps — and no more 

 trouble is necessary than to confine the lamb 

 for a night or two, if the weather be frosty. 

 To accomplish the castration of aged rams, 

 however, is a more difficult operation. After 

 ascertaining that there is no rupture, both the 

 testicles, which are very lau'ge, are inclosed 

 and held firmly together by iron clams, and 

 the testes are divided in a line with these by 

 the cautery. Other methods are adopted, but 

 this is by far the most popular. Some use 

 two sticks united at one end, into which each 

 testicle is inclosed, the inner part of the sticks 

 being smeared with a solution of sulphate of 

 iron. The other ends of the sticks are then 

 tied, and the testicle cutofi". In twelve hours 

 the sticks are removed by cutting the string, 

 and all the vessels are thoroughly cauterised. 

 This mode is a great improvement on the 

 cautejy. 



ROT. 



Bad and unwholesome food is generally 

 believed to be the cause of this disease, espe- 

 cially as it appears to be much, more prevalent 

 in wet seasons, when plants, at other periods 

 wholesome, become rank and impregnated 

 with poisonous qualities. Drainage is doing 

 much to banish it from the country ; for it is 

 found that the disease is very rare when the 

 sheep are fed on dry, heathy pastures. There- 

 fore, when it makes its appearance, the sheep 

 should be removed as early as possible, either 

 to a salt marsh, or to such pastures as are of 

 the driest description. Salt may be given to 



