CHAPTER XVII 



THE GENERAL INFECTIONS OF THE GENITALIA 

 OF SHEEP AND GOATS 



The general infections invading the genitalia of sheep 

 have received no adequate study and veterinary literature is, 

 as a consequence, essentially barren of any comprehensive 

 information. The breeding value of an individual sheep is 

 ordinarily not great and the attainable salvage by selling a 

 sterile animal for mutton leaves an unimportant margin of 

 loss. Consequently ewes which fail to produce young are 

 ordinarily sent to slaughter without comment. While in 

 small flocks of large, well-nourished sheep, there may be 

 at times a reproductive ratio of 200 per cent., this is not 

 reached in large flocks ; in the smaller breeds the ratio falls 

 below 100 per cent. The increase frequently drops to 75 

 or 80 per cent, or even less without causing comment. Fre- 

 quently also ewes are not bred often, but only for two or 

 three years, when the matured animals are sent to market 

 and are replaced by ewe lambs. 



The rest periods between births are long, giving ample 

 time for the recovery of the health of the genitalia. Sheep 

 are ordinarily bred during a very limited season, the dura- 

 tion of pregnancy is short, and both sexes quickly attain 

 rest. The new-born lamb grows usually under exceptional- 

 ly hygienic surroundings. Born as a rule in temperate 

 weather, it is constantly on pasture and nurses its mother. 

 Thus it escapes the filthy housing so often forced upon calves 

 and is spared the mixed milk containing an abundance of 

 various bacteria, to which is commonly added infection from 

 dirty feeding pails and other sources. Accordingly lambs 

 largely escape the digestive perils to which calves are sub- 

 jected, and as a consequence grow to sex maturity with 

 cleaner genital organs. Hence they show higher fertility 

 in the first breeding season. Regardless of these advan- 

 tages in environment and the plan of breeding, the infec- 

 tions of the genitalia sometimes acquire such virulence as to 



