THE MORE COMMON AILMENTS OF SHEEP 397 



eggs are developed within the segments. When mature 

 they are shed in the excrement. The time of growth oc- 

 cupies from two to three months. The number present 

 may run all the way from, say, two or three to 100, but 

 more commonly they seldom exceed half a dozen in one 

 animal. The adult worm is about 15 feet long. The 

 width varies from 1-25 of an inch at the head to ^4 of an 

 inch at the other extremity. The thickness varies from 

 i-io to 1-12 of an inch, but these measures are subject to 

 wide variations. The large growth so fills the small in- 

 testines that they obstruct the digestive processes while 

 they abstract nutriment from the food materials present 

 for growth. The disease is present to some extent 

 through all the year, but it is chiefly harmful to lambs 

 and during the first two or three months of grazing. 

 Worms have been found in lambs two to four months 

 old from 6 to 15 feet long, so rapidly do they grow. After 

 sheep pass the age of 18 months they seldom die from 

 tapeworm, but they harbor the parasites more or less. 

 The chief losses are with lambs under the age of six 

 months, and they give more trouble in wet seasons and 

 on damp pastures than under conditions the opposite. As 

 in the case of stomach worms, preventive measures are 

 more efficacious than treatment. These are practically 

 the same as for stomach worms (see page 393). Where 

 it can be done, confining the lambs to the sheds or corrals 

 until near the weaning season is a very sure means of 

 protection. This is most easily accomplished with lambs 

 that come early in the season. 



The treatment for the worm is in many respects sim- 

 ilar to that given in the case of stomach worms (see 

 page 394), but other treatment is sometimes resorted to. 

 Formerly a decoction of pumpkin seeds was used as treat- 

 ment, but the materials for making it are- not easy to 

 obtain in large quantity in the spring of the year. An- 

 other and equally effective remedy is two drams of male 

 fern given in two to four ounces of castor oil, or two 



