SHEEP. 



known to produce it ; but that which 

 causes it more tiian anytliing else is 

 the unlimited use of turnips and suc- 

 culent food. Many farmers may have, 

 doubtless, been in the habit of per- 

 mitting this with impunity, and would 

 therefore be disposed to doubt the 

 evil consequences of the practice ; 

 but it is not in every season that it is 

 attended with the dang;cr ; but when 

 vegetation has been abundant in the 

 autumn, and the winter has been 

 unusually wet, there is considerable 

 probability of the ewes casting their 

 lambs. Such was the case during 

 the past spring in numerous instan- 

 ces in this locality, and several of 

 which came under my own particu- 

 lar attention. One farmer had near- 

 ly a hundred aborted, and lost a good 

 many of the ewes. They had been 

 turned on a fine field of turnips, and 

 subsisted entirely on them and wa- 

 ter-meadow hay for some time pre- 

 vious to the commencement of the 

 mischief, which began soon after 

 Christmas, and continued for several 

 weeks. Though the greater number 

 of ewes recovered, yet they suffered 

 much, and some died from inflamma- 

 tion of the womb, and others became 

 paralyzed. 



'■ The symptoms first manifested 

 are dulness and refusal to feed ; the 

 ewe will be seen moping at a corner 

 of the fold, and will be heard to bleat 

 more than usual. To these succeed 

 restlessness, and often trembling, with 

 slight labour pains, and in the course 

 of twelve hours abortion will have 

 taken place. Sometimes the parts 

 will be so relaxed, that the uterus or 

 vagina will become inverted, and the 

 expulsion of the placenta will precede 

 that of the fcetus. In the flock be- 

 fore alluded to the lamb was almost 

 universally dead, and often exceed- 

 ingly ofTensive, and the abdomen was 

 distended with a bloody, watery fluid, 

 pointing out pretty clearly the nature 

 and source of the disease. 



" The treatment to be adopted is of 

 two kmds, preventive and curative : 

 the former, however, is the most im- 

 portant. In the first place, it is im- 

 prudent to turn ewes in lamb into 



I I I 2 



turnips; they should have instead 

 some dry pasture, and be well sup- 

 plied with hay. If feed is short, the 

 turnips may be drawn and given them 

 on the ground in moderate quantities, 

 or, which is better, cut up and mixed 

 with chaff, or bruised corn in troughs. 

 It is better that the condition of the 

 ewes be in some degree impaired, 

 than that so great a danger as abor- 

 tion should be incurred. If this pre- 

 caution has not been observed, and 

 abortion should appear, what then is 

 to be done 1 The flock should be re- 

 moved from the turnips to a dry pas- 

 ture, and supplied with the best hay 

 on the farm ; the aborted parts should 

 be carefully buried, and the ewe re- 

 moved from the rest ; and, if possi- 

 ble, the same man that attends the 

 flock should not touch or go near the 

 abortion, for there is very consider- 

 able danger from infection. The ewe 

 should be placed in a sheltered situa- 

 tion, but allowed plenty of fresh air, 

 and the following medicine may ba 

 given with some nourishing gruel • 



Epsom salts J ounce. 



Tiurture of opium ... 1 drachm. 

 Powdered camphor • ■ i " 



" The two latter medicines may be 

 repeated the following day, but not 

 the salts, unless the bowels are con- 

 fined. 



"The immediate cause of death in 

 fatal cases is inflammation of the 

 uterus or womb." 



" If any of the newly-dropped lambs 



are weak, or scarcely able to stand, 



1 he must give them a little of the milk, 



' which at these times he should al- 



j ways carry about him, or he must 



pJace them in some sheltered, warm 



place ; in the course of a little while, 



the young one will probably be able 



to join its dam. The lambing field 



I often presents at this period a strange 



I spectacle. ' Some of the younger 



ewes, in the pain, and confusion, and 



i fright of their first parturition, aban- 



i don their lambs. Many of them, when 



the udder begins to fill, will search 



i out their offspring with unerring pre- 



I cision ; others will search in vain for 



' it in every part of the field with in- 



; cessant and piteous bleating ; others, 



707 



